Glass 
Book 



Joseph Alleine : 

HIS COMPANIONS & TIMES ; 

A Memorial of 

"Blacft Batrtjoiometo/' 1662. 



By Charles Stanford. 

1 y 

" O, sit anima mea cum Puritanis Anglicanis ! "—Erasmus. 



Hon&oit: 

JACKSON, WALFORD, AND HODDER, 

ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 

\ %k>\ 

ircconlr Cljousani). 



%utfyox>8 preface. 



THE following work is an attempt to 
bring into notice some of our 
early Nonconformist worthies, the 
story of whose life-long sufferings for truth 
and duty is now almost unknown. It pro- 
fesses to be a book of " Obscure Martyrs." 
True it is, that the chief hero, Joseph Alleine, 
was well known in his own times, but even 
then he was obscure in comparison with many 
in the constellation of eminent men around 
him. 

With prophet - like solemnity, Richard 



IV 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



Baxter says : — " Let posterity know, that 
though this servant of Christ was exalted above 
very many of his brethren, yet it is not that such 
men are wonders in this age that his life is 
singled out to be recorded." The " Life," in 
the introduction to which these words occur, 
was first published in 1672. It includes a 
narrative, twenty-five pages long, written by 
his widow; several essays, like prose elegies, 
contributed by his friends ; and also forty of 
his letters. Only a few fails are related, and 
although the volumes spread the fame of his 
worth, it still left much of his life in ob- 
scurity. 

In our own day, " "Joseph Alleine" is little 
more than a name ; — a name that stands on 
the title-page of an old book, called, "An 
Alarm to the Unconverted ;" — a dead 
name, without substance, personality, or his- 
tory. Still less is known of his companions, 
for, generally speaking, their very names have 
faded out of remembrance. 

It has been said by some of my friends, 
that the life of some great Nonconformist 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



V 



leader would have been a more attractive 
subjeft than that which has here been selected. 
But we are already well acquainted with 
Baxter, Owen, Howe, John Bunyan, and men 
who in the same day had similar influence. 
Accounts of them have been so often and so 
ably recorded, that little more remains to 
be told. My preference has been decided 
in favour of Alleine and his companions, 
because I venture to think that most of 
the information now offered respecting 
them is important; and that also, to most 
of my readers, it will be new. Important, I 
am sure it is. To know the heroic age of 
Nonconformity corredtly and completely, we 
must not only know the men who were 
then influential from commanding genius 
and station, but we should know something 
of the average ministers and the provincial 
congregations. You are invited to live with 
one of those ministers ; to study his principles, 
and the various influences which tended to fix 
and try them ; to look on some of those 
external things to which his mind owed its 



vi 



AUTHORS PREFACE. 



formation and its /^formation ; to be intro- 
duced to some of the men and women whom 
he met in his daily walks and country labours ; 
and to follow him, in thought, both to prison 
and to death. As you thus accompany him, 
you are invited to watch, all the way along, 
the development of the events which led to 
the Ad: of Uniformity, and then to observe 
that ACt in its operation. 

This is my plan ; and although it has been 
very imperfectly realised, I hope some good 
will be effected by the attempt to carry it 
out. I address more especially the younger 
members of our congregations, and if they are 
led to examine afresh the reasons of Noncon- 
formity, to search into some of its historical 
connexions, and above all to emulate the holy 
lives of its earlier confessors, my principal 
obje6t will be gained. At the present time, 
having nearly reached the second centenary 
of the year when the peculiar sufferings of 
our ancestors began, and when their good 
confession was made, it becomes us all to 
renew our attention to the truths for which 



AUTHORS PREFACE. 



vli 



they suffered, and also to renew our praise to 
Him, who, through the growing ascendancy of 
those truths, has permitted us to see the day 
of liberty which they desired to see but saw 
not. "They that are delivered from the 
noise of archers in the places of drawing 
water, there shall they rehearse the righteous 
ads of the Lord, even the righteous ails 
towards the inhabitants of his villages in 
Israel." 

My cordial acknowledgments are due to 
the various friends who have kindly answered 
my inquiries and contributed to my materials ; 
but chiefly to my friend James IVaylen, Esq., 
of Etchilhampton, near Devizes, who first 
suggested the idea of undertaking the work, 
and who has ever been ready to help me with 
the results of his extensive reading and minute 
antiquarian research. For courteous permis- 
sion to see books and papers, in Dr. Williams's 
library most especially, also in the library of 
the Guildhall, in that of the London Medical 
Society, in that of the Society of Friends at 
Devonshire House, in that of Sion College, 



Vlll 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



and in that of the Baptist College, Bristol, the 
Trustees and Librarians will be pleased to 
accept my best thanks. 

Charles Stanford. 

Camberwell, Oflober, 1861. 



Chapter I. 



3fo0epf) ^Heme's #atf)er. 

u Was I not borne of olde uoorthie linage ? " 

SIR THOMAS MORE. 

N the course of searching for lost fa6ts 
in the life of Joseph Alleine, a few par- 
ticulars have come to light in relation to 
' his father, worthy Mr. Tobie Alleine, of 
Devizes. Slight and disconnected as they are, it 
would be a pity to let them vanish into darkness 
again ; they are therefore now for the first time 
presented, and all the more readily, because a notice 
of them will involve some historic statements which 
may prepare us to estimate the fads given in the 
following chapters. 

Some old writers on heraldry seem to think that 
the father of all the Alleines in England, or, at 
least, of all whose families have been longest esta- 
blished in the counties where they live, was Alan, 
lord of Buckenhall, in the reign of the first Edward ; 

B 




2 



JOSEPH ALLEINES FATHER. 



and that, what was at first only his personal desig- 
nation, became the patronymic of his children, who, 
as they multiplied into thousands from age to age, 
gradually learned to spell their name in the various 
ways now prevalent. We shall not try to thread 
the intersections of the vast maze into which this 
inquiry might ensnare us, as it will be sufficient for 
our present purpose to understand that at an early 
period, a family, said to have descended from the 
patriarch Alan, settled in Suffolk, — that about the 
year 1430, some of these Suffolk settlers came into 
the neighbourhood of Calne and Devizes, — and 
that the result was a large colony of Alleines, in 
which were the immediate ancestors of Mr. Tobie, 
who was born about the year 1590.* 

The earliest memorial of him that we now can 
find, is the register of his marriage, on the nth of 
Odober, 16 17, to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
Northie. This Mr. Northie was four times mayor 
of Devizes ; and his grandson, Sir Edward Northie, 
knight, was appointed attorney-general to Queen 
Anne, and was member of Parliament for Tiverton. 
Mr. Alleine's family became very large. 



* Harleian MSS., No. mx, No. 1181, No. 144.1, and No. 1565. 
I am also indebted to the kindness of John N. Ladd, Esq ., church- 
warden of Calne Church, and to the permission of the Rev. Canon 
Guthrie, for a long list of Alleines, copied from the parish register, 
which contains a continuation of the pedigree beyond that furnished 
by the heralds. 



JOSEPH ALLEINPS FATHER, 



3 



Our friend was a tradesman cc of credit and re- 
nown." When Charles the First was king, and even 
before that, few men were better known than he in the 
town and its vicinity. One reason for this was that 
by contrad with the corporation he took " the tolls 
of the beams and scales/'* that is, of whatever was 
weighed and sold in the market, at that time one of 
the most celebrated centres of traffic for wool in that 
part of England. Before newspapers were invented, 
the people looked forward to their weekly meeting 
at the market-cross as one of the pleasant excite- 
ments of their leisurely life, and one of their chief 
opportunities of hearing or telling the news of the 
day. Mr. Alleine's vocation, therefore, brought 
him a large acquaintance. It brought him into 
many a conversation with country justices, parish 
priests, village oracles, and gossips in general. Of 
course, farmers and factors, pedlars and rustics, for 
many a mile around, all knew him well. Old fathers, 
who had helped to ring the bells at the defeat of 
the Spanish Armada ; sages who had been hoaxed 
by Sir Walter Raleigh into digging for a Wiltshire 
silver mine, and who had only found cc blew clay ;" 
shepherds of Salisbury Plain, who, as Aubrey tells 
us, had many times seen Sir Philip Sidney riding 
over Cf those romauncy downes ;" — men like these 
often doffed their bonnets to Master Alleine, and 



Devizes Municipalia. 
B 2 



4 



JOSEPH ALLEINKS FATHER. 



stopped under the glimmer of the trees in the market- 
place to chat with him about the good old times. 

Many allusions to him occur in the ancient 
municipal documents. In 1636, and subsequently, 
he stands as sponsor for the due appearance and 
equipment of a musketeer in the town train-bands. 
At a later period, mention is made of £300 (about 
^1000 in present value), which he lends the borough 
authorities to relieve the straits occasioned by the 
wars. For many years his name is written first in 
the list of majores or "capital burgesses" of the 
common-council; — these, and similar notices, seem 
to certify that he was a man of public spirit, that 
he held a respe&ed but unpretending station in 
society, and that as to his circumstances, he had 
neither poverty nor riches.* 

He does not appear in the gentry lists of 
Wilts for the year 1623, though his family had 
always been thus reported before.f The omission 
in his instance was only remarkable because, trades- 
man as he was, he might have been supposed to 
have some claim to the honours of gentle birth ; 
and so eager were the heralds to obtain twenty-five 

* My best thanks are due to Alexander Meek, Esq., town -clerk 
of Devizes, for permitting Mr. Waylen and myself to examine the 
borough records for these and other accounts. 

f It will be seen by a comparison of the documents in the British 
Museum, that, although the book for 1623 does contain a pedigre e 
of the Wiltshire Alleines, it is simply copied, without additions, from 
that of 1 565. 



JOSEPH ALLEINPS FATHER. 



5 



shillings, the annual tax for being cc a gentleman/' 
that they often returned a tradesman under this 
title, even if he had no such claim. In such a case 
the vidtim was compelled either to pay the amount, 
or to make a declaration like this : cc A. B. hath 
this day appeared before me, Clarencieux king-at- 
arms, and taketh oath that he is no gentleman" 
This declaration, so trying for human nature to 
make, was actually made by a smart young yeoman 
of Alleine's acquaintance, and we can readily imagine 
the burst of broad Wiltshire sympathy that greeted 
his next appearance amongst his brethren at Devizes. 
We shall be forgiven for recording these small 
instances of honour withheld where honour was due, 
and obtruded where it was not, as affording a curious 
glimpse of the times in which even the honours of 
chivalry, from the highest to the lowest, were bought 
and sold to pay the debts of an exhausted Exchequer 
and profligate Court.* 

We must now hasten to set down fads of greater 
interest. 

" Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
And simple faith than Norman blood. ° 

His was a higher rank than any that Camden 
could attest by reference to a brass on the cathedral 
pavement, or to a richly blazoned family tree. We 

* Speech of Sir Francis Seymour, M.P. for Marlborough, com- 
plaining of the abuse of the heralds in the course of the Wiltshire 
Visitation. — Journal of House of Commons, 1624. 



6 



JOSEPH ALLEINE'S FATHER. 



may style him cc a good knight of Jesus Christ." * 
One who knew him well, asserts that he was cc an 
understanding, affectionate, prudent, and signally 
humble and experienced Christian." f Various 
witnesses give evidence that he was a Puritan, and 
that like his son he gloried in the name. 

The distinctive principle of a true Puritan was 
reverence for the stridt letter of Holy Scripture, as 
God's diredt message to each individual man, and 
as forming our final and absolute authority in religion. 
Of course, as the immediate and most conspicuous 
expression of his creed, the Puritan was a Protestant. 
What has been called the severe Scripturism of 
Puritanism stood in steadfast protest against the 
principle which reaches its culminating intensity in 
the church of Rome — the principle of combining 
with Scripture the traditional exposition of its 
announcements as preserved in the decisions of 
Christian antiquity. What has been called the 
intense personality of Puritanism stood in equally 
steadfast protest against that theory of a church 
which also reached its highest development under 
the Papacy — the theory which regards the church as 
a mother, endowed with changeless attributes, pre- 
serving a mysterious life through all ages, untouched 
by the adtual condudt and opinions of the individuals 
who, in their aggregate, are personified under her 



* Old English translation of 2 Tim.ii. 3. f Richard Alleine, M.A. 



JOSEPH ALLEINES FATHER. 



7 



name, and wielding a power so great that salvation 
itself should be spoken of as if wrought, not alone 
by one redeeming Person, but also by this redeeming 
Personification. In consistency with these religious 
do&rines, and as their vital result, the Puritans were 
also the foremost advocates of political liberty. 

We are chiefly acquainted with them through 
their ministers, and we therefore look upon Mr. 
Alleine with peculiar interest as a fair type of 
another class, which has had few biographers, 
although it exercised an influence almost equally 
important, in its rule over the religious changes of 
the times — the class of average Puritan laymen. 
Living in an age when the Court and Court-pre- 
lates were attempting to put down dodlrinal preach- 
ing, and to give a stronger papistical tincture to 
the rubric of the church, he differed in opinion 
from these fashionable ecclesiastics, as to the two 
great questions, cc What is the Gospel ? " and 
" How should the Gospel be administered ?" When, 
in 1662, directions were issued to the efFedt cc that 
no preacher under a bishop or a dean should pre- 
sume to preach in any popular auditory on the 
deep points of predestination, eledion, or reproba- 
tion ; or of the universality, efficacy, resistibility 
or irresistibility of Divine grace," * he was one 



Directions from the King to the Archbishop, to be communi- 
cated to all the clergy in his province. Windsor, August 10, 1632. 



8 



JOSEPH ALLEINFS FATHER. 



who said, cc Is our minister forbidden by law to 
preach the efficacy of divine grace ? Then, man 
makes that the forbidden fruit which God makes 
the tree of life !" When the bishops began to 
apologize for images in churches, for confession to 
a priest, for sacerdotal absolution, for bowing at 
the altar, for the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
which they declared was a school nicety, and for 
the theory that the Lord's Supper should be 
regarded not only as a sacrament, but as a sacri- 
fice, — he, like many another Puritan lavman, made 
no secret of his indignation. 

Perhaps if you saw some of the thoughts on 
this subje<5t expressed in Mr. Tobie Alleine's 
memoranda, and could have overheard the strong 
words spoken by him in the company of his friends, 
your first impression might be that he magnified the 
evil importance of the ceremonies Laud was aiming 
to revive, and allowed them to inspire him with 
too deep a fear of returning Popery. But if you 
could look through the mist of more than two 
centuries, and see, as he did, the a&ual men and 
women of that day, with all their living opinions 
and emotions — if you could know with a power of 
eager realization how ignorant they were, how 
ready to follow the religion of those who made the 
laws, and how very little the recent and short 
ascendency of Protestantism had as yet served to 
disperse the darkness induced by the ancient and 



JOSEPH ALLEINES FATHER. 



9 



long ascendency of Romanism — you would 
qualify your first opinion. He saw the people 
sunk in superstition. Most of the countrymen 
with whom he transacted business came from dis- 
tricts infested with witches ; in their journey over 
the downs they had been in peril from -fairies ; 
and in those dreary solitudes more than one had at 
times seen unearthly sights, or heard bursts of 
mysterious music. Night and morning, in going 
out and coming in, in bringing the sheep from the 
fold or the wool to the market, it was common for 
them to appeal to the tutelar saints of their respec- 
tive parish churches. cc Good Saint Catherine, 
stay my oxen !" would a farmer cry, when in 
chase of his straying cattle. The drover prayed 
to Saint Anthony. As the pack-horses came 
sliding and stumbling with obstreperous jingle down 
the chalk hill-side, the men in charge would invoke 
the aid of Saint Loy. Not only did they appeal to 
dead saints, but to graven images. In 1631, 
Mr. Sherfield, a gentleman with whom Alleine was 
acquainted, having long observed cc many people" 
pause and bow before a window in his parish church 
at Salisbury, asked them why they did so. cc Be- 
cause the Lord our God is there," was the reply. 
On looking more closely into the glass, " all 
diamonded with quaint device," he found that it 
contained seven representations of God the Father, 
in the form of a little old man with a blue and red 



IO 



JOSEPH ALLEINES FATHER. 



coat, with a pouch at his side.* This was the 
diocese which had so long been illumined with the 
presidency of men like Jewell and Davenant ; and 
if here so much ignorance prevailed, how great 
would be the darkness elsewhere ! 

If, by the due consideration of fads like these, 
we could acquire power to stand in the place and 
see with the eyes of a man like Mr. Alleine, we 
should discover a spiritual meaning and dignity in 
many of the opinions held by him and his brother 
Puritans, which may now seem like the mere 
crotchets of morbid scrupulosity. cc The surplice 
was the recognized symbol of the priestly character, 
and might have a tendency to recal the doctrine of 
a merely human intercessor standing between God 
and man. The cross in baptism, and the conse- 
crated font, might, they said, easily bring back 
with them the exorcisms accompanying the rite of 
baptism in Roman Catholic churches. The observ- 
ance of saint's days might suggest the adoration 
held to be due to those saints. Kneeling at the 
communion had its tacit reference to the conversion 
of the consecrated wafer. To retain these ceremonies, 
it was agreed, even were they innocent in themselves, 
was extremely dangerous in the English church, 
which had so recently emerged from Romanism, j" 



* Rushworth's Colle6lions ? vol. ii., p. 153. 

f J. L. Sanford's Studies of the Great Rebellion, p. 67. 



JOSEPH ALLEINPS FATHER. 



While the superstitions to which allusion has 
been made, showed how sensitive the poorer people 
were to the enchantments of Popery, other fads 
served to keep Mr. Alleine in mind of its per- 
secuting vengeance. In his boyhood, old men 
sat in the sun who could remember the dying faces 
of martyrs, and who had told him thrilling things 
in the story of their own fathers, who had "played 
the man in the fire" at Salisbury ; and now, the 
crushing tyranny of the church in her courts, her 
frowns on free thought, and the fervour with 
which, in the language of the scourge, the 
pillory and the branding iron, she asserted the 
religiousness of vestments, of attitudes, of signs, 
and of a particular quarter in the sky, naturally 
suggested the fear that scenes like those of the 
Marian persecution might open again. Perhaps it 
is not surprising that the church as thus repre- 
sented should have alarmed rather than attra&ed 
such a man ; certainly this is not so wonderful as 
the fad that all this time, only a few miles off, 
a bard of such celestial inspiration as George 
Herbert, should have thus been singing in her 
praise : — 

" I joy, dear mother, when I view 
Thy perfe6l lineaments and hue 

Both sweet and bright : 
Beauty in thee takes up her place, 
And dates her letters from thy face, 

When she doth write. , " > 



12 



JOSEPH ALLEINKS FATHER, 



It was long thought by most persons, and is 
still thought by many, that the period of eccle- 
siastical history which came just before the great 
Puritan revolution, was a kind of golden age — the age 
out of whose life we must fetch our highest types 
of priestly excellence, and our fairest ideal pictures 
of a Christian people. And, indeed, this must 
be true, if we are to accept as true the wonders 
told of the desolation wrought by the later Puri- 
tanism. All the learning and eloquence, sanftity 
and grace which that Puritanism sv/ept away, must 
have flourished then or never ; for, however black 
and stormy Puritan barbarities were, their first 
stroke could not have crossed over the age in which 
they existed, to light on a distant century. The 
truth is, that most of that ignorance of the people 
which we have been describing, arose from the 
incompetency of their spiritual guides,* and es- 
pecially from the want of a fC preaching ministry. " 
Within the memory of man, the sovereign had 
said, cc It is good for the world to have few 
preachers — three or four may suffice for a county, 
and the reading of the homilies is enough." For 



* This is contrary to the commonly received doctrine. See, 
for instance, some curious remarks in the Introduction to Stephens's 
Notes, legal and historical, on the Book of Common Prayer. — 
Ecclesiastical History Society. The writer says : — " The episcopal 
clergy of that day were equally eminent for their learning and 
exemplary character as those of the present day." 



JOSEPH ALLEINPS FATHER. 



1 3 



a few years, at the beginning of the century, there 
had been a revival in this and other agencies of 
public instruction and refinement, but now there 
was a mournful decline. The calm-judging Selden, 
speaking of the clergy, says, cc they were ignorant 
and indolent, and had nothing to support their 
credit but beard, title, and habit."* Milton, in 
cc Lycidas," utters a similar complaint.")* Richard 
Baxter, writing of Shropshire in the days of his 
boyhood — that is, about 1620, and ten years after — 
says, cc There was little preaching of any kind, and 
that little was rather calculated to injure than to 
benefit. In High Ercall, there were four readers 
in the course of six years ; all of them ignorant, 
and two of them immoral men. At Eaton Con- 
stantine, there was a reader of eighty years of age, 
Sir William Rogers, who never preached ; yet 
he had two livings, twenty miles apart from each 
other. His sight failing, he repeated the prayers 
without the book ; but to read the lessons, he 
employed a common labourer one year, a tailor 
another, and at last his own son, the best stage- 
player and gamester in all the county, got orders, 
and supplied one of his places. Within a few 
miles round were nearly a dozen ministers of the 
same description : poor, ignorant readers, and most 



* History of Tithes, preface, p. i., 1 6 1 8 . 
t l6 37- 



JOSEPH ALLEINE'S FATHER. 



of them of dissolute lives."* George Withers also 
remarks respecting such unprofitable servants, — 

" In their poverty they will not stick 
For catechising, visiting the sick, 
With such-like duteous works of piety 
As do belong to their society ; 
But if they once but reach a vicarage. 
Or be inducled to some parsonage, 
Men must content themselves, and think it well 
If once a month they hear the sermon bell.''' f 

Such was the rule, and it is of the rule we now are 
speaking, not of a few brilliant exceptions. Every 
step was taken by the higher priests to discourage 
preaching, and every proof was given by the lower 
ones of readiness to acquiesce. 

The Puritans endeavoured to find a remedy for 
this evil by supporting lecturers — clergymen, 
who, having obtained the necessary licence, were 
supported by special subscriptions, or by funds 
obtained through the purchase of lay-impropriations, 
and then employed merely as preachers. Mer- 
chants and tradesmen who lived in London were 
accustomed to consult and subscribe for the settle- 
ment or occasional service of lecturers in the towns 
and villages of their native county, where there 
appeared to be a deficiency in the ordinary clerical 



* Orme's Life of Baxter, vol. ii., p. 3. Fuller, sub anno 1630. 
Rushworth, vol. i., part 2, p. 150. 
f Britaine's Remembrancer, 1628. 



JOSEPH ALLEINES FATHER. 



*5 



means.* In other cases, such lecturers were 
maintained by the zeal of resident friends. They 
had no local charge, and their sole vocation was 
preaching. The pulpit of St. John's was then 
provided for by the town authorities, the minister 
was under their patronage, and was almost entirely 
supported by free contributions. f It is curious to 
see, from their old records, the vigorous use they 
made of their rights in inviting le&urers. In the 
course of the twenty years immediately preceding 
the Protectorate, very many were the ledlurers 
engaged by the corporation to preach at ordinary 
and extraordinary times, and we may trace much 
of this work to the quiet energy of Mr. Tobie 
Alleine.J 

One of his friends, who was always a cordial 
helper in work like this, was the worshipful Master 
John Kent, the aged town-clerk,§ and also member 
of parliament for the borough, for which service, 
during the time occupied, he received, according to 
ancient usage, the sum of two shillings a day. 

* Account of Clerical Customs in 1630, additional MSS., 4460, 
f. 80. Social History of the Southern Counties, by George Roberts, 
Chapter on Lecturers. 

f So stated in a petition from Devizes to Parliament against a pro- 
posal for settling on Mr. Henry Johnson, minister, the sum of £100 
per annum, out of the lands and stock of the borough. — State 
Papers, 1660. 

J Devizes chamberlain's books, and other memoranda. 

§ Mr. Justice Kent's Ledger Book is in theLansdown MSS., 231 



JOSEPH ALLEINE'S FATHER. 



You may see his effigy — solemn with ruff and 
robe, and hands clasped as in prayer — in the chancel 
of St. John's Church. According to the Latin 
epitaph there, he was cc a man of fervent piety 
towards God, who so obtained the calm of an 
untroubled conscience, that he might be said to 
have anticipated the bliss of heaven."* These 
worthies often exchanged formal compliments and 
quaint courtesies, and held many a grave conference 
about Church and State. Like other keen watchers 
of events, they hardly knew whether they could 
see in these events the beginnings of a new day for 
Romanism, or the dismal dawn of civil war. It 
was only certain that some disastrous crisis was 
at hand. 

A ray of sober merriment sometimes shot through 
their gloomiest conversation. One day, Nathaniel 
Stephens, a young Oxford student, said to have 
been related to Mr. Kent, came in with a story 
which he thus drily told : — 

CC A clergyman entering the church," (perhaps 
his father's church at the neighbouring village of 
Stanton Bernard,) "went up to the chancel to bow 
to the altar. It so happened that there was no altar 
there, but the communion table stood against the 
east wall, and a boy sat upon it. The boy, seeing 

* He died in 1630. The epitaph was probably written by his 
grandson, Dr. Philip Stephens, president of Hart HalL Oxford, and 
who was ejected for Nonconformity in 1662. 



JOSETH ALLEINKS FATHER. 



I? 



the priest coming towards him, slipt down and stood 
before the table. At length the priest made a low 
bow, and the poor boy thinking it was to him the 
respedt was paid, bowed as low to him again ; and 
the bows were repeated three times on each side ; 
the boy being surprised at the priest's wonderful 
civilitie." 

Many years after this, when, according to George 
Fox, the relater of this anecdote had become Cf one 
of Baal's priests, and preached in Drayton Steeple- 
house," he used to finish the tale with a few solemn 
words of application, sounding very much like the 
echo of what might have been said about it by the 
elders to whom he related it first. cc In this case," he 
would say, Cf the boy knew well enough who it was 
he bowed to, but whether or not it was so as to 
the priest, it is questionable ; for the God whom 
Christians worship is no more in the east than in the 
west — no more in the chancel than in the church — 
nor any more there than in the house or in the field; 
unless when His people are there c worshipping 
him in spirit and in truth.' Before the coming of 
Christ it was the duty of the Jews in the western 
parts to worship towards the east, because Jerusalem 
and the Temple stood that way. (1 Kings viii. 48 ; 
Dan. vi. 10.) This might be the reason why some 
Christians in the primitive times took up the fashion 
of praying towards the east. They Judaized in 
that as well as in some other things. But now 

c 



i8 



JOSEPH ALLEINKS FATHER. 



Mount Zion is no more holy than Mount Gerizim, 
or the mountains in Wales." * 

The matters which suggested talk like this, and 
which seemed in one way or other to become the 
theme of every conversation between thinking men, 
grew in pra&ical importance every day. The 
spirit of the rival parties became terribly earnest. 
At last the sword flashed out, and the land rang 
with war. When the Cavalier, fired with loyalty for 
the person of the King, set up his standard, "in- 
voking every eye for its glance and every tongue 
for its prayer ;" and the Puritan, fired with equal 
loyalty for principles which he thought involved in 
the office of the King, set up another standard of 
defiance, greater interests were at stake than those 
of politics. Events showed that those seers were 
right who had predicted that the only alternative 
for the country would be a fight for freedom, or a 
return to Popery and arbitrary power. Say, if you 
please, that the Puritans dwelt upon the evils of 
Popery with an emphasis that was injurious and out 
of place, and that no grounds existed for their 
apprehensions of its return. The Pope himself 
formed no such low estimate of their political saga- 
city ; and we may remark in passing, as an evidence 
of the light in which he regarded the war, that a 
Bull of his was intercepted and sent up to Parliament, 



* Nonconformist's Memorial. 



JOSEPH ALLEINPS FATHER. 



l 9 



promising canonization to those Catholics who fell 
on the side of the King — a mark-worthy fad: which 
has not found its way into any of our histories.* 

In the storm of war, Mr. Alleine, like thousands 
of his countrymen, suffered greatly in trade and 
estate. The Chamberlain's accounts for 1647 re ~ 
cord the discharge of Tobias Alleine, Gent., ff from 
the bond to pay a rent to the corporation for taking 
c the tolls of the beams and scales/ on the ground 
that, owing to the late unnatural wars, the markets 
were unfrequented, rendering him unable, in con- 
sequence, to make up his rent out of the profits, "f 
From this time we gradually lose sight of him, and 
by 1650 his name entirely disappears from the 
burgess lists. He had not yet, however, retired 
into absolute obscurity ; for in the Bodleian Library, 
bound up with a volume of pamphlets, we find a 
list of Wiltshire Triers of ministers, which contains 
his name. The list itself is undated, but if the 
Triers reported there are those appointed by Crom- 
well's commission, the date of the appointment must 
have been about 1654 ; showing that he had not by 
that time ceased to be a man having authority. In 
this capacity he was associated with thirteen ministers, 
and sundry country gentlemen, among whom were 
Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir Edward Baynton, 



* Commons' Journals, vol. iii., pp. 257, 264. 
f Burgus de Devizes, tempore Will. Thurnam, Maioris. 

C 2 



20 



JOSEPH ALLEINE'S FATHER. 



John Ffreme, a Devizes Baptist, and Serjeant 
Robert Nicholas, who then represented the town in 
Parliament.* 

This is the last instance in which he appears in 
any public service, for altered circumstances pre- 
vented him from filling his former station. First, 
from the wars, then from the penal enactments 
against Nonconformists, he sunk into deeper and 
yet deeper poverty. Troubles came crowding on 
him, throng upon throng, and in his old age he 
often had no home of his own. In 1666 he was 
imprisoned for conscience sake, with his son Joseph; 
and a letter is extant, dated from Ilchester Gaol, in 
the postscript of which he sends his cc tender re- 
membrance " to the beloved people of Taunton, 
and says, cc I desire you to hold fast what you have 
received and heard, and that you be holy, harmless, 
exemplary, and without offence in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse generation." 

In June, 1667, "he died," it is said, cc suddenly 
but sweetly." On the morning of his death he rose 
about four. About ten or eleven he came down 
out of his closet and called for something to eat, 
which being prepared he gave thanks, but could not 
eat anything. His wife, perceiving a sudden change 
in him, persuaded him to go to bed ; he answered, 



* The date of the papers collectively is given outside the pamphlet 
as 1658. 



JOSEPH ALLEINE'S FATHER. 



21 



" No, but I will die in my chair ; and I am not 
afraid to die." He sat down, and only said, cc My 
life is hid with Christ in God ;" and then he closed 
his eyes with his own hand, and died immediately.* 
"Shut thine eyes a little, old man, and immediately 
thou shalt see the light of God ! j - " So it was said to 
Ananias the martyr, as he knelt to lay his white 
head upon the block ; and so it might have been 
said to Mr. Tobie Alleine. 



* Rev. R. Alleine. 

f " Paulisper O senex, oculos claude j nam statim lumen Dei 
videbis." — Sozomen, lib. ii. , cap. n. 



Chapter II. 
Arrange ^cfcoote ana ^c&oolmasters:. 

" The coursers neighing he could ken, 
And measured tread of marching men — 

The banners tally of crimson sheen, 
Abo<ve the copse appear 

And glistening through the hawthorn green, 
Shine helm, and shield, and spear" 

SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

OSEPH ALLEINE was born at 
Devizes, early in the year 1634.* The 
date of his birthday is lost, but his 
baptism, according to the register of St. 
John's Church, was on the 8th of April. He was 
the fourth child in the family, and after him were 
several others, including some whose names are 
not recorded, f 



* Late in the year 1633, if we reckon by the old style, which 
supposed the year to begin on the 25th of March, and end on the 
24th of March following. 

f The following are the names of Mr. Alleine's children, with 
the dates of their baptism as given in the register: — Edward, 13th 




STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



Our immediate aim will be to trace the earliest 
processes of his education, and to show their earliest 
effe&s. Hugh Miller used to complain that with 
most persons the word Cf schools " only called to 
mind the idea of certain buildings devoted to 
scholastic purposes, and that the word cc school- 
masters " only suggested the idea of certain men in 
desks, teaching in those buildings. He thought 
this was too narrow a meaning for such words, and 
that its adoption led to too narrow a view of 
education. Regarding the matured life of a man in 
the light of a result ; in his opinion, every scene, 
every event, and every friendship of childhood 
contributing to that result, should be remembered 
in the list of our cc schools and schoolmasters." 
This, therefore, was the title he selected for the 
charming story of his own life. There, the first 
school that he recognizes is that of parentage; 
the next is that of surrounding local circumstances. 
In studying the agencies that educed the character 
of Joseph Alleine, we may with advantage adopt 
these thoughts and in this order. The nature, in 
his case, of the first-named class of educating 
forces, may be inferred from what has already been 



December, 1618 5 Tobie, 15th January, 1 620-1 Elizabeth, 21st 
February, 1626-75 Joseph, 8th April, 1634; Lettice, 22nd Sep- 
tember, 16355 Israel, 13th March, 1637-85 Mary, 1st June, 1640. 
After that, there is a long hiatus in the book. 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCF100LMASTERS. 



said of his father. The nature of the second now 
remains to be described. 

It should be remembered that the conflict 
between Charles and his Parliament had, by the 
time of which this chapter treats, been transferred 
from the House of Commons to the battle-field. 
In no place, according to its measure, were the 
consequences more severely felt than at Devizes. 
Instead of opening in a dream of pleasant wonders, 
Joseph Alleine's childhood was spent in the midst 
of these alarms. 

His father's house, with its white gables, striped 
and flowered with dark wood-work, occupied the 
site of that which now stands next the market- 
house. Right before it, only just across the broad 
way, half screened on one side by a ring of elm 
trees that stood round a broken cross, rose the 
great grey walls of the castle ; — its keep roofless, 
and its outworks shattered into picturesque decay ; 
but its general aspedl still sufficiently royal to show 
why the monk, Matthew Paris, had called it c ' the 
most magnificent castle in Christendom/' Even in 
its partial ruin it was deemed an important fortress. 
Twice, at least, did the boy witness its siege and 
the consequent change of its masters, before he was 
twelve years old. 

To the last, one of the most vividly lighted 
scenes in his memory was that siege by Sir William 
Waller, the object of which was to recover the 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 1$ 



town from the Royalists, into whose power it 
had recently fallen. The issue of this experiment 
was the famous battle of Roundway. 

From the back of the house might be seen 
over the roofs, the high, bare Wiltshire plains, 
where they drop abruptly by a long line of undula- 
ting slopes, into a rich valley of trees and pasturage. 
Roundway is the name given to one of these 
slopes, just above Devizes. The town is at the 
highest part of the valley, and from the point 
where the castle stood, the ground sinks away down 
into a landscape, in which, to use the language of 
a local poet, we may descry, 

"Towns, villages, light smoke, 
And scarce-seen windmill sails, and devious woods, 
Chequering 'mid sunshine the grass-level land, 
That stretches from the sight."* 

Looking up, early in the morning of the ioth 
of July, 1643, ^ e child might have seen, 
through the thin rain that was falling, Sir William 
Waller's army of 5,500 men in slow motion over 
the edge of the down. He and the little ones of the 
family were hurried within doors. Presently, the 
guns from the battery and the answering peals from 
the castle shook the roof-tree, and flashed through 
the chinks of his father's barred and shuttered 
windows. Soon, he heard eager voices in the 



* Rev. W. Lisle Bowles. 



<l6 STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



street, telling the news that the besiegers had 
captured large supplies of artillery that were on 
their way to the town, and that now the garrison 
would only be able to hold out for a few hours. 
Shortly after that, he was at work with his mother 
and sisters, in hot haste cutting down all the bed- 
ropes and collecting all the cordage they could find, 
to be boiled and beaten into match for the* 
musketeers. 

Match was furnished by this expedient, suddenly 
and conjointly adopted by all the good wives of the 
town. Lead was torn from the church roofs to be 
cast into bullets. Powder was unexpectedly con- 
tributed by a townsman who had for some time 
been storing it in a pit. Thus, supplies were found, 
and the defence of the place was prolonged for 
four days. Meanwhile, so early as Monday night, 
the Marquis of Hartford had stolen away from the 
castle, to obtain reinforcements from Oxford ; but 
Waller, trusting that Essex would intercept them, 
felt no anxiety. On Thursday, however, at about 
four o'clock in the afternoon, the reinforcements 
came. A formidable body of horsemen came 
thundering over the sward, and attacked Waller 
on Roundway, just as he was about by one last 
stroke of desperate strength to take the town. 
Without staying to relate the intricate history of 
the engagement, it will be sufficient to say that the 
army of the Parliament was put to flight, and the 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



result of the day was seen in the fall of Bath, the fall 
of Bristol^ and the restoration for a time of the King's 
ascendency in the west. The Royalists called it 
the battle of " Run-away ;" Waller entered it 
in his journal as a cf fatherly chastisement."* 

Take another scene from Joseph's childhood : — 
On Sunday morning, the 18th of September, 
1645, he f° un d- that a battery of ten guns had been 
constructed in the night, just before his father's 
house, and pointed towards the castle gates. 
Standing on the green margin of the footway, only 
a few paces from the porch, was a soldier, whose 
rough, grand look of concentrated authority shot a 
thrill through the young beholder, and compelled 
the whisper, <c Who is he?" It was Oliver 
Cromwell, who, as Lieutenant-General for the 
Parliament, brought a final summons to the Gover- 
nor to deliver up the place. There was an answer 
of defiance. Clouds of arrows whizzed through 
the air.f For two days and two nights, incessant 



* Waller's Recollections. The history of this battle is given 
in Waylen's History of Devizes. 

-J* In 1643, tne Earl of Essex had issued a commission desiring 
all well-affe6ted persons in and about the city of London to " bring 
in bows and arrows, not doubting but that success will attend the 
use of that honourable and ancient weapon, heretofore found of good 
use in this kingdom. " Gwynn, in his Autobiography, speaking of 
this last siege of Devizes, says — " Standing by Sir Jacob Astley a 
bearded arrow struck into the ground between his legs. He plucked 
it out with both hands, and said, e You rogues, you missed your 



28 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



were the pealings of musketry and the explosions 
of shells. On the third day the garrison sur- 
rendered — Governor Sir Charles Lloyd and his 
men were permitted to ride away to Worcester;* 
and at last, high over the old keep, the blue banner 
of the Parliament was seen flowing in the wind.f 

In May, 1646, orders came from the House of 
Commons for the total demolition of the fortress. 
Slowly and gradually these orders were carried into 
efFed: by the regiments quartered in the town, until 
almost the last vestige of a wall was gone, and 
even the white bones and rusty chains in the 
dungeons were open to the sky. For several years 
it was a daily excitement to see the warriors at 
work, now with sturdy swing, handling pickaxe or 
lever, now pausing to hold a debate on theology, 
to settle a case of conscience, or to raise the stave 
of a psalm ; and after work was over, often going, 
it is said, to Cf a little room in the little house of 
good dame Ffreme," there to hold those meetings 
for prayer and exhortation, which formed the first 
stage in the history of the Baptist Church at 
Devizes.J John Bunyan was at this time a sol- 
aim. ' " Sir Walter Scott remarks on this passage, that it is u perhaps 
the last mention of the use of the bow and arrow in England in 
a£hial battle." 

* s P r %g ,s Anglia Rediviva, part iii., chap. i. 

f So described by Sir John Prestwitch. 

t MS. Diary of Thomas Webb, a man who prayed that Daniel 
Defoe might enjoy " the blessings of the upper and nether springs." 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 29 



dier, doubtless often engaged in similar work and 
in similar society, traces of which perhaps we find 
in such conversations as those between Mr. Great- 
heart and his companions, and in such verse as 
that in which they celebrate the fall of Doubting 
Castle. 

Joseph had yet other strange schools and school- 
masters, of which some account should be given. 
When you step down into the twilight of the old 
still church at Devizes, you say, "Here, at least, we 
may forget the world, and let the mind drink in 
holy tranquillity." But it was not so then. 
Houses of prayer were often vortices of strife, for 
the prelates who a few years before had been cc sow- 
ing to the wind," were now cc reaping the whirl- 
wind;" and the whirlwind was often wildest there. 
The people, having in youth had an ecclesiastical 
drill rather than a Christian education, were not all 
prepared to use aright their new-found liberty of 
conscience. Just rung up in alarm out of their 
awful sleep of ignorance, they were all in excite- 
ment, and their uneducated enthusiasm found out- 
force in many a rude extravagance. To borrow 
the wise and eloquent words of the Bishop of 
Oxford, though not spoken by him in defence of 
the views advocated here, we may truly say that 
cc it is part of the curse of unrighteous tyranny, 
that it not only oppresses its vidtims during its 
supremacy, but that^ even in its removal, it still 



3<D STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



blights them by the licence which is engendered by- 
its dissolution."* 

We may find illustration of this truth in some of 
the disturbances of which the churches were some- 
times the scene, about the time of which we are 
speaking. The custom has been to point to such 
disturbances, and call them the effefts of Puritanism, 
although they were in reality only the natural 
effedts of the causes we have described, made more 
intense by the licence of a civil war. The adtors in 
them were not the Puritans, as such, but soldiers or 
rioters, and the immediate sufferers from them were 
often the Puritan ministers.f 

One day, late in 1647, when Joseph with his 
father and all the family were at church, the Pres- 
byterian minister, worthy Master Shepherd, being 
in the performance of his duties, one Captain Pretty 
did, with cc much admirable incivilitie," command 
the good man to leave the pulpit, charging him 
with cc a disorderlie walk." The pulpit was vacated 
in a swift and lively manner, and the congregation 
cc had no le&ure that day." This incident seems to 

* Addresses to Candidates for Ordination, by Samuel, Lord Bishop 
of Oxford, i860, p. 218. 

f To be informed as to the true authors of the war, let all young 
Nonconformists consult the actual documents of that day, as given in 
such works as Forster's " Debates on the Grand Remonstrance,' 1 and 
" Arrest of the Five Members Verney's " Notes of the Long Par- 
liament," Camden Society 5 and Sanford's u Studies of the Great 
Rebellion." 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 3 I 



have furnished Sir Walter Scott with a suggestion 
for the scene in Cf Woodstock/' where Master 
Nehemiah Holdenough suffers similar " incivilitie" 
from the hands of Joseph Tomkins the weaver ; 
who forthwith takes the clergyman's place, and 
delivers a long exhortation.* 

It was no uncommon thing to find a soldier in 
possession of the pulpit, and the boy Alleine often 
heard a military preacher. You may still see old 
manuscript notes of such sermons taken down by 
hearers. There are notes of one preached in St. 
John's by Major Barton, about the beginning of 
the year 1649. ^ * s f° un ded on Numbers xii. 
i, 2, 3 ; and has evident reference to the revolt of 
the Levellers. Nothing could be more unlike the 
work of an enthusiast. The constructive skill it 
displays would have done credit to one of the 
deposed bishops. It has division within division, 
in all ninety-seven — subtle, intricate, confounding, 
pedantic, preposterous. Each has a numerical 
distinction. The thoughts are dry as petrifactions, 
and it is difficult to conceive that once they were, 
as they must have been, full of passionate life, j- 



* One proof that Sir Walter knew of this circumstance, and 
had it in mind when he wrote this romance, exists in the fact that at 
this time (1636) Sir Henry Lee was one of the capital burgesses of 
Devizes. — Chamberlain's Accounts. 

f " Good Old Simeon Ash wrote to Colonel Barton, when Monk 
came in, to engage him for the King." — Baxter MS. In the Public 



3 1 STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



cc Sir/' said cc a gentleman all in scarlet," to a 
minister, as he was one day stepping out of the 
pulpit, cc you speak against the preaching of sol- 
diers ; but I assure you, if they have not leave to 
preach, they will not fight ; and if they fight not, 
you must all fly the land and begone. * * * 
These men who are preachers, both of troopers 
and commanders, are the men whom God hath 
blessed within these few months to rout the enemy 
twice in the field, and to take many garrisons of 
castles and towns. — I thought good to let you 
understand as much, and this is all I have to 
say." * 

According to Edwards, the author of the cc Gan- 
groena," the violent and insulting interruption of 
the Presbyterian ministers by soldiers, in the 
time of public service, was an ordinary event.")" If 
so, the charge must be restricted to those who were 
known as the Levellers, — rebels on theory against 
all authority, and whose revolt against Cromwell has 
just been the subject of a passing allusion. But it 
was common even for those of their number who 
belonged to that large and superior class whose 
praise is in all the histories, to aspire after preach- 



Intelligencer for February, 1660, we find the name of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Barton associated with that of General Monk. This must 
have been the same person. 

* Gangroena, book i., p. 111. 

f Book i., pp. 106 — 108. 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 33 



ing or disputing in the churches. Baxter records 
an instance of such a discussion carried on in 
Agmondesham Church, between himself and "Pitch- 
ford's cornet/' one taking the reading-desk, and the 
other the gallery." The Ironsides seemed to claim 
an occasional use of their gifts in the pulpit as one 
of their rights, and part of their pay. 

Such are fair instances of the things which helped 
to form Alleine's education. Almost every person 
he knew, led a life of anxiety and adventure, every- 
where and every day. Thomas Fuller had truly 
said, f f Janus's Temple was not shut in any parish, 
and there was no rest on the earth." The people 
of Devizes in particular, had a thousand experiences 
to remind them of some lines in a book that was 
then lying on many a window-seat : — 

u Ah ! sweet Content, where is thy mild abode ? 
Is it with shepherds and light-hearted swains, 
Which sing upon the downes and pipe abroad, 
Leading their flockes, and calling unto plains ? 
" Ah ! sweet Content, where dost thou safely reste ? 
In heaven, with angels, who the praises sing 
Of Him that made and rolls at His beheste 
The minds and parts of ev'ry living thing ? 
" Ah ! sweet Content, where doth thine harbour hold ? 
Is it in churches with religious men, 
Which praise their God with prayers manifold, 
And in their studies meditate it then ? 
" Whether thou dost in heaven or earth appeare, 
Be where thou wilt, thou wilt not harbour here." f 



* Orme's Life of Baxter, vol. ii., p. 74. f Barnaby Barnes, 1 590, 

D 



34 STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



Many faded letters and diaries bear witness to 
the fad that thoughts like these, suggested by the 
troubles of the times, were often employed by the 
Divine Regenerator to bring about that grand 
change, which all must feel who cc see the kingdom 
of heaven." Cf Content is not here/' it was said, 
cc where can we find it?" Like the dove of the 
deluge, that flew to the ark because nowhere else 
could it fold its weary wing to rest, many were 
taught by trouble to seek rest in Christ. Young 
as he was, there is reason to believe that Joseph 
Alleine was thus taught. It was just at the time 
of the second siege, when he was about eleven 
years old only, that he dated the dawn of his new 
life. At that time his many contrivances for being 
alone were first observed, and persons coming acci- 
dentally where he was at such seasons, found that 
he was alone for prayer, so absorbed in his simple 
devotions as not to be aware of their presence. He 
grew up so much under the influence of great and 
solemn feelings, that the state of his mind was some- 
times an overstrained one. From his gravity, in- 
duced partly by this, and partly by his love of 
study, his companions used to call him " the lad 
that will not play." It would dishonour the benig- 
nant Redeemer to plead for a religion that by its 
own inherent law 

cc Checks a child with terror, 
Stops its play, and chills its song." 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



But in this case we only see the natural working of 
the forms in which religion was first suggested to 
his mind, and of the outward forces that first led 
him to feel its value. These early events seemed 
to cast a shadow all along his future life. Seeing 
from boyhood little peculiar to earth besides cc the 
windy storm and tempest " of sin and consternation, 
he was almost led to think that he had absolutely 
nothing to do in this world but to hasten through 
it to a better, and by means of invitation or 
alarm to persuade, if possible, everyone else to 
become a companion of his panic flight. Under the 
power of God's Spirit, the same circumstances also 
tended to educe habits of self-denial, of endurance, 
and of hardy, fearless courage in the advocacy or 
practice of his faith. It would be wrong, however, 
to think that his was only a gloomy religion. Old 
tra&s say that cc even in his childhood he showed a 
singular sweetness of disposition/' and that " the 
whole course of his youth was one even-spun thread 
of godly conversation, which was rendered the more 
amiable by his sweet and pleasant deportment 
towards all he conversed with."* 

His eldest brother, Mr. Edward Alleine, was a 
clergyman ; but in 1645, when he was only in his 



* A Brief Relation of his (Joseph Alleine s) early Setting Forth in 
the Christian Race, &c. Written by an Eye-witness thereof. — 
Also, account of Alleine in Clarke's Lives. 

D 2 



36 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



27 th year j he died, to the deep grief of many friends, 
as we learn from more than one paper, in which he 
is described as cc a young minister of rare promise." 
This, as we have seen, was the year of Joseph's 
" setting forth in the Christian race." He implored 
his father that he might be educated to Cf succeed 
his brother in the work of the ministry." Glad 
consent was given, and he was immediately sent to 
school. It is supposed that the school selected was 
that at Poulshot, under the care of his father's 
friend, Mr. William Spinage, fellow of Exeter 
College, Oxford. There he had praise for unusual 
diligence, and in four years, broken by long inter- 
vals of visiting at home, caused by the confusion of 
passing events, he obtained such a degree of mastery 
over the Greek and Latin languages as to be fit, in 
the judgment of his tutor, for university studies.* 

After this he remained for a little time in his 
father's house at Devizes, reading logic <c with a 
worthy minister of the place." Unusual maturity 
now displayed itself both in mental and religious 
life. Jeremy Taylor decides that ' f some are of age 
at 15; some at 20; and some never." Joseph 
Alleine was of age at 15, and his father, whose 
heart had been almost broken by the loss of his 
first-born, as he now looked upon the son who was 
rising 10 take the place of the departed one, and as 

* Anthony Wood. 



STRANGE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



he proudly augured from what he was, what he 
would be, would say, Cf This same shall comfort us 
concerning our work and toil of our hands. The 
blessing of thy father shall be upon the head of 
Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who 
was separate from his brethren." 



Chapter III. 
life m tfje Puritan Ontoeristtp. 

" Youth, with pale cheek and slender frame. 
And dreams of greatness in thine eye, 
Goest thou to build an early name, 
Or early in the task to die / > " 

BRYANT. 

E remained at Devizes more than a year 
after Mr. Spinage had pronounced him 
ripe for the university, but there was 
good reason for the delay. To all 
appearance that year had been, for the interests of 
learning, the most dismal and hopeless in all the 
annals of Oxford. In 1646, after a long siege, it 
had surrendered to the Parliament forces, but was 
left in a state so desolate, that men said in their 
excitement it looked "like Jerusalem in ruins." 
Broken trees and trampled gardens were seen on 
every hand. Sculptured stones and pidlured 
windows lay shattered in the grass. Nettles and 




LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



brambles were growing round the walls of the 
schools. The rich wood-work in the quadrangle 
of Christ-church College had been torn down for 
fuel. The halls had been turned into granaries, 
the colleges into barracks, the butteries into shops 
for the sale of food for the garrison; all the 
treasuries were exhausted ; all the plate was gone ;* 
and books had disappeared for the purchase of 
fire-arms. So long had Mars usurped the place of 
Minerva, and students been accustomed to ex- 
change cap for helmet, that the scholastic air of 
the place had almost vanished. Lectures and 
exercises had fallen into disuse, except in St. Mary's 
Church, where a scanty remnant of under- 
graduates used to assemble. Few persons connected 
with the university remained besides heads of 
houses and professors. 

Even when the soldiers had surrendered, the 
academics still refused to acknowledge the authority 
of the commissioners sent down by Parliament to 
carry out the measures which had been concerted 
for the reformation of the university. " They 
held out," says Dr. Walker, fC a siege of more than 
a year and a half ; the convocation-house proved a 
citadel, and each college a fort not easy to be 



* Plate presented to his Majesty by the colleges, January 20th, 
1642, 1 6 10 lb, 1 oz. 10 d. — Collectanea Curiosa, vol. h\, p. 227. 
This was the first instalment. 



4-0 LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 

reduced."* At length, in July, 1648, this cc siege" 
of mere authority being unavailing, the Parliament 
expelled by military force those who refused to 
take cc the solemn league and covenant," as they 
afterwards did those who refused to sign cc an 
engagement to be true to the Government without 
king or lords." All honour be to the memory of 
these stout Carolist dodtors, with their romantic 
devotion to the King, their high chivalry, and 
their noble stand for conscience. We acknowledge 
and deplore the wrongs they suffered. Yet, if we 
admit the university to be a national institution, it 
will be difficult to show why the aftual Govern- 
ment of the day, assuming it to be the organ of 
the national opinion, and the grand executive of 
the national will, should not have demanded its 
submission to governmental authority ; and further, 
if we admit the university to be by right a part of 
the religious establishment of the State, it is difficult 
to see why it was not as consistent for the State, 
when Presbyterian, to enforce its own symbol, as 
it was, when Episcopalian, to enforce the thirty- 
nine articles. 

While these affairs were in agitation, and Oxford 
seemed to be but the camp of all chaotic and 
refradlory elements, it was not likely to attraft new 
students, and Alleine, like many others, waited. 



* Sufferings of the Clergy, pp. 122, 123, 128. Wood's Annals. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



4* 



Something like order being at last restored, in the 

month of April, 1649, ^ e set out ^ or ^ scene °f 
his studies. Amongst the Wiltshire youths riding 
with him some part of the way, might have been 
seen, we may suppose, cc that miracle of a youth," 
Christopher Wren, afterwards the architect of St. 
Paul's Cathedral, and Lancelot Addison, now 
known only by a fame refle&ed from that of his 
son, the great essayist. On his arrival, he was 
placed at Lincoln College, then under the presi- 
dency of Dr. Paul Hood. He thus began his 
curriculum in the Puritan University. We must 
give some illustrations of what is meant by that 
phrase, and it will best be done by a few historical 
scenes and pi6tures. 

Stand by Joseph Alleine, and look at the first 
scene. He had been here but a few weeks, when 
he had an opportunity of witnessing the sober 
splendours of a Puritan gala-day. This was occa- 
sioned by the ceremony of creating Oliver Crom- 
well dodlor of civil laws. Late on Thursday, 
the 17th of May, the general rode in from Burford, 
where he had just quelled the mutiny of the 
Levellers, and the university put forth all her 
pomp and all her hospitality to greet him. He, 
Fairfax, and a staff of officers, were entertained that 
night at All Souls' College, cc hitherto," as Prag- 
maticus pensively remarks, cc a neat nursery of 
civility and learning." In the morning, the heads 



4 2 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



of houses waited on him in their ceremonial robes, 
and Mr. Rous of All Souls' delivered a congratu- 
latory speech. In reply, Cromwell said that <f he 
and his companions were well aware that no 
commonwealth could flourish without learning ; 
that, whatever the world said to the contrary, they 
meant to encourage it, and that so far from sub- 
trading any of their means, they meant to add 
more." Next day, "having been entertained," 
says Anthony Wood, "with good fare and bad 
speeches " at Magdalen College, followed by a 
hearty game of bowls on the green, the visitors 
went to the schools. There the degree of do6lor 
of laws was conferred on Cromwell and Fairfax, and 
that of master of arts on their principal officers. 
The two chiefs, arrayed in doftorial scarlet, were 
then led in procession. Some of the usual formali- 
ties were omitted from the routine. For instance, 
it was customary for the beadles to march first, 
bearing the doctors' square caps swung from the 
tips of their silver staves, but these costly symbols 
of office had not yet been delivered up by the 
Royalists ;* and, as to cap and hood, they having 



* " Procuratores sine clavibus, 
Querentibus ostendas 5 
Bedellos novos sine stavibus, 

Res protinus ridendas." — Allibond on Oxford Univ., 1648. 
The staves were kept back until 1651. R. S. to Sheldon j 
Ayscough MS. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



43 



formed part of the vestments worn by Romish 
priests, were of course reje6led as cc mere conjuring 
garments," and cf relics of the Amorites." On the 
arrival of the procession at the upper end of the 
convocation-house, all the members standing bare- 
headed, Zanchy, the Baptist prodtor, made a com- 
plimentary speech, cf such as 'twas," adds our friend 
Anthony, and presented the new dodlors to the 
vice-chancellor, who addressed them in a similar 
strain. Ralph Button, the university orator, then 
delivered a Latin oration, in which he styled Crom- 
well and Fairfax "the two martial twins," in 
allusion to Romulus and Remus. Dead and dull 
as these and other details may look, when we only 
see them in the old, brown pamphlets of the 
British Museum, they may help the imaginative 
student of the past to call into his presence some- 
thing of the eager animation, light, and colour of 
the very scene itself, as its changes shifted before 
the eyes of Alleine and his companions.* 

It is fair to suppose that he was looking from 
the gallery on that high day in February, 1650, 
when Cromwell's letter was read announcing his 
acceptance of the chancellorship. cc You shall not 
want my prayers," so ran the document, Cf that 
that seed and stock of piety (so marvellously 
springing up among you) may be useful to that 



* Mercuries ; also Wood's Annals, by Gutch, vol. ii., part ii., p. 621. 



44 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



great and glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of the approach of which, so plentiful an 
effusion of the Spirit on these hopeful plants, is one 
of the best presages. And, in all other things, I 
shall, by the divine assistance, improve my poor 
abilities and interests, in manifesting myself to 
the university and yourselves, your most cordial 
friend." " Which, being read in convocation," re- 
marks Mr. Wood, Ci the members thereof made the 
house resound with their cheerful acclamations."* 

These acclamations were not echoed by the 
Royalists. On the contrary, to use the chan- 
cellor's own words, they opened a brisk Cf battery 
of paper shot " upon him. Rough and unlettered 
as they chose to call him, they had no obje&ion to 
address the hero of Naseby as cc Dr. Cromwell," 
and they frequently did so, in an ecstacy of satirical 
glee ; but this last appointment was thought an 
outrage too profane to be treated with levity, and 
at the very thought of it the graver sort amongst 
them almost gave up the ghost. Pity that so 
much good emotion should have been wasted, for 
succeeding events amply justified the election, and 
Oliver, in becoming chancellor, became " the 
pradical saviour of the old university, "f 

Alleine often saw the dean of Christ Church, 
Dr. John Owen, not then looking as he does 



* Fasti, p. 136. 



f Guizot. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVER SITV. 



45 



in those later portraits by which he now is 
known — 

" the frail remains 

Of sickness, care, and studious pains 5" 

hut in the prime of his vigour ; — his dark eyes full 
of keen fire ; his raven-black hair thrown back by 
the adion of his quick, authoritative step ; his 
frame still showing the spring and spirit, owing to 
which, only a few years before, cc no man was more 
ready to pull a wherry on the Isis, or wrestle a 
fall, or heave a stone on the college meadows, or 
join a jolly crew of wild lads to go up on a moon- 
light eve into the belfry of Magdalene, and set the 
rich bells a clanging till the spire rocked, wakening 
the night, and startling the old monastic quiet of 
the streets with the joyous outbreak and tintin- 
abulatory exuberance of a double Bob Major."* 
His manliness, his courtly presence, his strong 
will, his rare administrative ability, and, above all, 
his san&ified genius and learning, now attracted the 
attention of Cromwell, who, as Thurloe remarks, 
" sought not places for men, but men for places." 
This taft led him to nominate the do6tor to be 
vice-chancellor, that is, to be chancellor's deputy, 
to a6t in his absence as the virtual judge and ruler 
of all academical affairs. Accordingly, on the 26th 



* Dublin University Essays, No. IV. $ Life and Times of John 
Owen, D.D.,by the Rev. Richard S. Brooke, M,A. 



46 LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



of September, 1651, he was chosen to that honour 
by the unanimous suffrage of the senate. He soon 
effe&ed great reforms. During the five years of his 
vice-chancellorship, cf professor's salaries, lost for 
many years, were recovered and paid, the rights and 
privileges of the university were defended against 
all the efforts of its enemies, the treasury was 
tenfold increased, new exercises were introduced and 
established, old ones duly performed."* The 
once-deserted courts were crowded again, and even 
in the first few months of his office, four hundred 
more students were enrolled than in one of the 
golden years of King James. j* The coarse 
amusements and the shameful vice which had made 
Oxford so notorious in the reign of that great 
monarch, and which, if possible, had become worse 
during the military occupation of the place,J were 

* Oratio ad Richardum Crom. 

f In 1622, the total number of students of all degrees was 2,850 ; 
in 1 651, 3,247. "The Foundation of the University of Oxford," 4to,, 
1 65 1, supposed to have been written by Dr. Langbaine, keeper of the 
archives. 

J Sir Henry Blount, Knight, who was at Oxford in Charles I.'s 
time, " inveighed much against sending youths to the university, 
where they only learned to be debauched." — Aubrey's Lives. 

"That which was most burdensome to me . . . was the debauchery 
of the university. For the most eminent scholars of the town . . , 
did work upon me by such endearments as took the name of 
civilities (yet day and night could witness our madness) ; and, I 
must confess, the whole time of my life besides I did never so much 
transport me with drinking as that short time I lived at Oxford, 
and that with some of the gravest bachelors of divinity there."— 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



put down by Owen with resolute severity. Yet he 
meant only to be intolerant of wickedness. Opinions 
and preferences of good men, however adverse 
to his own, he treated with respedl. The Royalist 
visitor to a chapel would see no traces of injury 
done to its Gothic effigies or floral mouldings, 
but those received in the siege ; he would find 
few differences in its arrangements, except that 
the altar would be Cf turned table-wise and the 
solemn organ still Cf tossed its music from side to 
side ;" at least we know that the organ was still 
used in the chapel of the college under the prin- 
cipalship of the famous Independent, Dr. Thomas 
Goodwin, as well as in some others.* Caps and 
hoods were an abomination to Owen's puritanic 
tastes, and he said so ; but they were worn without 
hindrance by those who liked them. Owing to 
the narrow policy of Government, still more 
owing to the folly of the bishops, the Episcopalian 
service was now proscribed, but every day a few 
Episcopalians met to enjoy their forbidden Prayer- 
book in a house just opposite his own. They 
knew that he might have dispersed them had he 



Arthur Young, Gentleman Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, 
in 1631, " Peck's Desiderata Curiosa." lib. xii., p. 470. 

Cl What few students remained were much debauched, and were 
much addifted to swearing, drinking, and profanity." — Wood's 
Annals of the University. 

# Evelyn's Diary, 1654. 



4 8 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



so minded ; but, in the interchange of courtesies 
between him and them, as they casually met on 
the green outside, he never made inquiry as to 
the object of their assembly.* Congregationalist 
as he was, he appointed qualified men to responsible 
posts, notwithstanding their presbyterianism or their 
prelacy ; cc for," said he, cc I wish that the people 
of the Lord, notwithstanding their differences, 
may live peaceably one with another, enjoying 
rule and promotion , as they are fitted for employ- 
ment"^ 

While the do6tor was giving all his soul to 
the work of raising the university from its fall, 
his few recreative hours were spent in penning 
some of those folios by which he now is mainly 
known. cc Ponderous tomes," says one, cc each 



* It is grievous to think that we cannot say as much for his tolerant 
spirit towards the Quakers. In 1654, two harmless women were, in 
their belief, " moved by the Spirit" to speak in a " steeple-house, after 
the priest had done," in refutation of what he had said. They had 
also rebuked the students, who in turn treated them roughly, thrusting 
them into u the pool called Giles's, and causing one of them to fall 
into an open grave." When the poor women were brought before the 
magistrates, the mayor was willing to discharge them, but Owen 
insisted on their punishment. A full account of this was published in 
a pamphlet, entitled, u A true Testimony of the Zeal of the Oxford 
Professors and University Men, in persecuting the Servants of the 
living God." — Lond. 1654. Owen had a strong prejudice against the 
Friends, as appears from his Exercitationes apologetics ad<versus 
hujus temporis Fanattcos. Oxon, 1658. 

•j* Sermon before Parliament, 17th September, 1656. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIPERSITT. 



49 



one of which might have been fairly boasted of 
as the life-work of a man of earnest thought and 
labour, but which were by him thrown off almost 
sportively. We gaze upon them with a sort 
of breathless wonder ; wonder increased by the 
recolledtion that they were the results of his brief 
leisure, — and the wonder reaches as far as humanity 
can entertain it, when we find the man of so 
many sacred offices, of so many high achievements, 
and with so many calls upon his time, not only 
equal to all, but aftually going up to Parliament 
and taking his seat as representative of the 
university of Oxford."* Such was Owen, and 
like him were the Puritan scholars round him ; 
miracles of memory and acquisition ; men, caring 
little indeed for the graces of literature, and pos- 
sessing no admiration of the exquisite ; with no 
ear for the music of language, and no eye for the 
magic of beauty, but whose minds were filled to 
overflow with the riches of all old learning, and 
whose powers were trained to grapple athletically 
with all great questions in the religious and eccle- 
siastical controversies of their times. 

Oxford was now the refuge of science as well 
as of learning. In November, 165 1, just before 
Owen's installation, and apparently with reference 
to it, we find the Hon. Robert Boyle thus 



# Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1851. 
E 



5<D LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIFERSITT. 

writing to a friend : — fC As for our intellectual 
concerns, I do with some confidence expe6l a re- 
volution, whereby divinity will be exalted, and 
real philosophy flourish beyond men's hopes."* 
Shortly after the date of this letter, which was 
written from Twickenham, we find Boyle has taken 
up his residence at Oxford, mainly, we suppose, 
for the cultivation of Cf real philosophy." It was 
the only place in England," remarks his biographer, 
cc where, at that time, he could have lived with 
satisfaction to himself." f Then and there it was 
that he and the most distinguished men of science 
living held those enthusiastic meetings for expe- 
riments which issued in the formation of the Royal 
Society. For the convenience of inspecting drugs, 
these meetings were first held in an apothecary's 
house, at the lodgings of Dr. William Petty, the 
ancestor of the present Marquis of Lansdowne. J 

Alleine's course at Oxford was coincident with 
the life and labours there of these notabilities. 
It requires a capacious faith to believe with Dr. 
Walker that cc they reduced the university to a 
mere Munster ; and that if the Goths and Vandals, 
or even the Turks, had overrun the nation, they 
could not have done more to introduce disloyalty, 



* November, 1 651. Ayscough MS., 4162. 
f Life of Boyle, by Birch, 1744, P- 1 10 - 
I Aubrey's, Life of Seth Ward. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



5 1 



barbarism, and ignorance." The very utterers of 
statements like these, when off their guard, refute 
themselves. Lord Clarendon, their leader, says of 
Oxford under Owen, Cf It yielded a harvest of 
extraordinary good and sound knowledge, in all 
parts of learning ; and many who were wickedly 
introduced, applied themselves to the study of 
learning and the pradtice of virtue."* Our student 
needed no sympathy. He had rare advantages, 
which he used with rare industry, and a Wiltshire 
place becoming vacant in Corpus Christi College, 
on the 3rd of November, 1651, he was chosen 
scholar of that house, cc elefted in accordance with 
the old statute ;"f cc his merit," says a fellow- 
student, Cf being the only mandamus that brought 
him in." 

It was a great satisfaction to hi m to be intro- 
duced to the friendship of Dr. Edward Staunton, 
the president. Two very different biographical 
accounts of this gentleman have been left us ; one 
written in a spirit of deep veneration, the other in 
that of strong antipathy and disrespect. ± He had 
the reputation of being an austere precisian. Well 
known as a scholar, he was still more famous as 
Cf a saint." It was said that cc he prayed like an 



* History of Rebellion, vol. iii , p. 57. f M8. at Corpus Christi. 
J Life and Death of Dr. Edward Staunton, 167 3, by Mayo. Appen- 
dix to the Life, &c, 1672 5 supposed to be by William Fulman. 

E 2 



5^ 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



angel." Men called him cf the living Concordance." 
His generosity kept him poor, and he ever sought 
to relieve the spiritual as well as the temporal wants 
of his needy neighbours, giving away Cf godly books 
and catechisms" by hundreds. With him, the un- 
seen world was all in all, and life without, impor- 
tant only for its bearings on the life within. 
cc Joseph Alleine," writes an old memorialist, "soon 
became a great comfort to this holy man ; and it 
did always revive him to hear of his after-eminence 
in the church of God."* 

Before the entrance of any student into this col- 
lege, the dodtor had an interview with him in order 
to discover, if he could, the cc signs of grace." In 
the Spectator ■, No. 494, a story is related of such a 
conversation. A young Oxford matriculatist is 
conduced into a chamber all hung with black, and 
lighted by the glimmer of a solitary lamp. At 
last, the head of the college makes his appearance, 
puts a few mysterious interrogatories, and sums up 
all by the question, Cf Are you prepared for 
death?" which question being misunderstood by 
the youth, Cf frighted him out of his wits," so that, 
upon making his escape, he could never be brought 
to examination again. This sketch, it has been 
thought, was intended to ridicule Dr. Thomas 
Goodwin ; but to the scared imagination of many a 



Clarke's Lives, 1683, p. 174. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



cc Roger Wildrake," it would have served equally 
well for a pidture of Dr. Staunton in his audience- 
chamber. 

Besides ordinary anxieties for the piety of the 
students, was that arising from the fadfc that Corpus 
Christi was regarded as pre-eminently the college 
for ministers. fC It was the founder's will, expressed 
in one of the statutes, that all the fellows and 
scholars who were of the foundation should, about 
a year or two after they were masters of arts, be 
ordained to the holy ministry, one only excepted, 
who, ad arbitrium y should be deputed to the study 
and pra&ice of physics."* The doftor was con- 
scientiously in earnest, therefore, that this will 
should be realized, as far as was consistent with the 
altered condition of university life. Everything 
was done by him with a view to this object, not 
only by Cf putting into force all such statutes as 
tended to the advancement of learning and religion," 
but by catechetical exercises, meetings in his own 
house for prayer and religious conference, and 
divinity lectures for initiating the senior students 
into the work of the ministry. Owing to the work- 
ing of this theory in the doctor's hands, of all 
colleges in Oxford this would have been generally 
deemed the most solemn and sombre. It was like 
a Puritan monastery. Within its awful walls, no 



i 



* Wood. 



54 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



language was to be spoken but Greek or Latin ; 
very stridfc were its rules, and even in the dining 
hour, all were accustomed to listen in silence while 
one of the brotherhood read from the Scriptures, 
or else joined with thedoftor in spiritual discourse. 
cc Truly," remarks the learned Henry Jessey, in 
1660, cc I think there was scarce such a place in 
the world as Corpus Christi, where such a multi- 
tude held forth the power of godliness, and purity 
of God's worship. Even an Eden it was, but now 
a barren wilderness,"* 

This was true in the main, yet it is to be feared 
that the cc hopeful plants" here and in other col- 
leges were not all so good as they seemed to be ; 
and we learn from the accounts of the early Friends, 
who in some instances suffered violent ill-treatment 
from the gownsmen, that the bad were very bad. 
Indeed, how could it be otherwise ? Many a wild 
lord, who afterwards frolicked in the Court of 
Charles the Second, — many scapegraces, who after- 
wards gave occasion for the blind poet to call them 
Cf sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine," — 
were now at college ; and although perhaps they 
could utter the evangelical pass-words demurely as 
their companions, it would have been strange had 
they not found at intervals some way of indulging 



# Jessey's Loud Calls, describing " the Lord's strange hand at 
Oxford," 1660. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



55 



in their favourite revelry, unknown to the mag- 
nates of the place. We need not stain this page by 
narrating the doings of alumni like these, espe- 
cially as such outbreaks were rare and exceptional. 
But there were others, who, while never running 
to the same vicious excess, sometimes went too 
far in the same direction. As human nature, 
though clad in an antique costume, was much the 
same then as now, of course we know that some 
young Puritans, who had been tutored into miracu- 
lous gravity by discipline like that at Corpus 
Christi, would, the moment restraint was over, 
break out into all kinds of riotous fun. Small 
blame to them, only we grieve to say that even 
when no malice was intended, this merriment was 
often at the expense of the poor Quakers. Here 
is a company gathered round John Ward, who is 
telling them that " a Quaker has just been in to 
Sir Harry Vane, to persuade him that he is the 
Lord's anointed, and powred a botle of rancid oyle 
upon his head, which did make Sir Harry shake 
his eares !" Another has something to tell about cc a 
Quaker debtor, who has just replied to his creditor, 
c 'Tis revealed to mee that I ow thee nothing.' " 
At last they all go to a Cf silent meeting," and one 
of them, with a lively recollection of Dr. Staunton's 
last discourse, preaches to the outraged but uncom- 
plaining audience on the subjeft of cc Tobit and 
his dog," enlarging on the do&rine with needless 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



prolixity, sprinkling the sentences with scraps of 
most audacious Latin, and quotations from apocry- 
phal fathers, then branching off into interminable 
cc Vses and points, after the manner of the priests." 
At another time, a visitor comes to Oxford, pro- 
fessing to be a Greek patriarch, cc by name Jere- 
mias," and that he wants from the university 
authorities cc a model of the last Reformation." He 
has cc old, long, black raiment, a broad white beard, 
and a hat whose brim is of an eastern diameter." 
Some of the Royalists repair to him for his bless- 
ing ; Harmar addresses a formal Greek harangue 
to him ; even Owen resorts to him ; becomes on a 
sudden exquisitely and haughtily polite; all is 
found out to be a trick, and to escape the storm of 
indignation, the mischievous originator of it is 
obliged to abscond/ 1 ' 

Joseph Alleine took no share in these freaks of 
Puritan juvenility ; nor even in recreations less 
questionable. He felt no gloom in Corpus Christi. 
It was to him, as it had been to Hooker before 
him, even as cc a garden of piety, of peace, and of 
a sweet conversation." The genius of the place 
suited him. He knew no change in his life, and 
asked for none, but what was now and then made 
by a Cf solemn fast," or a new invention of self- 

* Wood's Annals j Peck's Desiderata Curiosa $ MS. Common- 
place Book of John Ward, 17 vols. 5 Tracts of the Friends, in the 
Library of Devonshire House. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



denial. With all this, it is said, such was the 
friendliness and liveliness of his spirit, and such the 
charm of his address, that were it not for his many 
other excellencies, cc he might have been described 
as Tot us ex comitate, made up of courtesy." Yet 
he had such a panic sense of the value of time, and 
the importance of study, that nothing could induce 
him to relax his labours. 

" Who studies ancient laws and rites, 
Tongues, arts, and arms, and history, 
Must toil like Selden days and nights, 
And in the endless labour die." * 

This was his student-creed, and he tried to practise 
it. cc He could toil terribly." One of his com- 
panions assures us that it was common for him 
to work from four o'clock in the morning, and 
often until one the next ; and that it was as usual 
for him to give away his commons at least once, as 
it was for others to take theirs twice a day. Like 
many in those days, he was tempted to look upon 
that man as the holiest Christian and the worthiest 
student who was simply least indulgent to the body, 
scorning it, addressing it in abusive language, and 
keeping it under, as a mere inconvenience, or a 
mere dead weight to the soul. He ought to have 
remembered the sentiment of his favourite Plutarch, 
cc Should the body sue the mind before a court of 



* R. Bentley. 



58 LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



judicature for damages, it would often be found 
that the mind had been a ruinous tenant to its land- 
lord ;" and he might have drawn the inference, that 
in such a case the mind would have a formidable 
fine to pay. Wood says he became fC a meer 
scholar." This, had it been true, would have been 
sufficient penalty, but it was untrue. His judg- 
ment was as remarkable as was his scholarship. 
fc All who knew him," writes his friend, Cf knew 
him to be as smart a disputant and as excellent a 
philosopher as he was a good linguist. When he 
performed any academical exercises, either in the 
hall or in the schools, he seldom or never came off 
without the applause, or at least the approval, of 
all but the envious." 

On July 6th, 1653, he took the degree of 
bachelor of arts, and an interesting proof of the 
estimation in which he was held is afforded by the 
fact that he was almost immediately compelled, 
young as he was, to become a tutor of his college. 
Some impression may also be taken of what he was 
himself, from the eminence which some of his pupils 
afterwards attained. Dr. Kippis asserts that "several 
became very eminent Nonconformists," but the only 
one of them known by his present biographer to 
have joined the ranks of Nonconformity was 
Robert Dod, M.A., who, according to Calamy, 
" greatly profited " under his tuition, both in 
Cf serious religion, and in useful, humane learning." 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



He was ordained by Bishop Juxon immediately 
after the Restoration, and was reftor of Inwortb, 
in Essex, until 1662. All the others who can be 
traced with distinct certainty were destined to be 
stars of the church of England. The names of 
some of them here follow : — 

John Rosewell, D.D., sometime fellow of Corpus 
Christi, afterwards head-master at Eton, and 
canon of Windsor. — Christopher Coward, D.D., 
also fellow of his college ; an intimate friend of Sir 
Kenelm Digby, and Bishop Ken ; he became 
rector of Dicheat, in Somerset, and prebendary of 
Wells. — Nicholas Horseman, B.D., author of several 
learned works. — John Peachell, D.D., admitted 
master of Magdalen College in 1679. — Another of 
his pupils was Sir Coplestone Bampfield ; but he 
does not appear to have refledted the highest credit 
on his college training.* 

In the year 1654, on the occasion of the peace 
which Cromwell concluded with the Dutch, there 
was no small stir in the university. 

Straight other studies are laid by, 
And all apply to poetry : 
Some write in Hebrew, some in Greek, 
And some, more wise, in Arabic, 



* Authority for what is said above will be found in the following 
works : — Wood's Life of Dr. Nicholas Grey ; the Kennett 
MSS., British Museum j Kennett's Register ; Bliss's Life of 
Wood j Fasti Oxonienses ; and a pamphlet of Andrew Marvell, 
who says, " Sir Coplestone Bampfield is much addicled to tippling/' 



6o 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



T' avoid the critic, and th' expense 
Of difficulter wit, and sense. 

* * * * 

The doctors lead, the students follow : 
Some call him Mars, and some Apollo 5 
Some Jupiter, and give him th' odds, 
On even terms, with all the gods : 
Then Caesar he's nicknam'd as duly as 
He that in Rome was christen'd Julius 5 
And was address'd to by a crow, 
As pertinently long ago."* 

After a fashion which Butler ridiculed in this 
rattling fire of conundrums, the doftors and students 
of Oxford did honour to the Lord Protedtor, pre- 
senting him in various languages with a garland of 
poetical addresses of gratitude and compliment, 
many of which were printed in a volume entitled 
Oxoniensium EAAIO^OPIA. Alleine contributed a 
Latin ode, but after a long search it has not yet 
appeared. Certainly it is not in the printed book ; 
perhaps not inserted there because wanting in the 
fervour which became the occasion. We know 
from his own confession that he was unable to join 
in the highest praise that was given to cc Cromwell, 
chief of men." 

Twelve months before he left Oxford, he became 
chaplain to the college ; preferring this office to a 
fellowship, which in a little time would have been 
his own of course and by right. 

The companion, whose words have been cited 



* Butler's Miscellanies. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



61 



before, attributes this preference to his delight in 
the exercises of devotion. Much of his time in the 
early morning was thus spent, and after walking or 
discoursing with a friend, he would usually propose 
to close the interview with prayer. Most likely, 
the most definite motive to this decision for the 
clerical engagement was the spirit which was already 
visible as the ruling law of his life — Cf ardent love 
to the souls of men," inspiring an impatience to be 
occupied in dire6l ministerial work. He began to 
take every opportunity of preaching in the village 
churches, and where he thought men were most 
forgotten. cc He paid frequent visits to persons 
who were mean and low, his main design being, 
together with relieving their wants, helping their 
souls on the way to heaven." The prisoners in 
the county gaol attracted much of his sympathy. 
Partly as the cause, partly as the efredt of great 
negleft, prisons were then scenes of such repulsive 
wretchedness, and sometimes of such deadly infedtion, 
that to pay them a visit of charity was often a 
dangerous venture to the benevolent enthusiast. 
Some of the citizens had lately died of gaol fever. 
In 1577, when the Oxford prisoners were brought 
out of their cells for trial, the chief baron, the 
sheriff, and four hundred persons who were present 
in the court, all died of infeftion within forty-eight 
hours ; and we have no statistics to prove, or reason 
to think, that any great sanitary reforms of the 



62 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



prison had taken place since that cc black assize."* 
Who ever thought of the prisoners ? Alleine was 
the first friend they were ever known to have had. 
It was his custom to preach to them once a fort- 
night, and during the week of his visit to give them 
large allowance of bread. 

In Oftober, 1654, he appears to have had certain 
offers of high preferment, but of what nature is now 
a secret. In the following words, written to a 
personage of whom more will be said presently, he 
makes reference to the overture, and at the same 
time reveals an interesting glimpse of his inner 
life: — 

" My dear Heart, — My heart is now a little at rest to 
write to thee. I have been these three days much dis- 
turbed, and set out of frame. Strong solicitations I have 
had from several hands to accept very honourable prefer- 
ment in several kinds, some friends making a journey on 
purpose to propound it ; but I have not found the invita- 
tions f though I confess very honourable, and such as are 
or will be suddenly embraced by men of far greater worth 
and eminencyj to suit with the inclinations of my own 
heart, as I was confident they would not with thine. I 
have sent away my friends satisfied with the reasons of 
my refusal, and am now ready with joy to say with David, 
" Soul, return unto thy rest." But, alas! that such things 
should disturb me ! I would live above this lower region, 
that no passages of providence whatsoever might put me 



* Baker records the fact in his Chronicle, p. 353. Lord Bacon 
ascribes it to the infection brought into the court by the prisoners. 



LIFE IN THE PURITAN UNI^ERSITT. 



out of frame, nor disquiet my soul, and unsettle me from 
my desired rest. I would have my heart fixed upon God, 
so as no occurrences might disturb my tranquillity, but I 
might be still in the same quiet and even frame. Well, 
though I am apt to be unsettled, and quickly set off the 
hinges, yet methinks I am like a bird out of the nest, I 
am never quiet till I am in my old way of communion 
with God, like the needle in the compass that is restless 
till it be turned towards the pole. I can say through 
grace with the church, c With my soul have I desired 
thee in the night, and with my spirit within me have I 
sought thee early my heart is early and late with God, 
and 'tis the business and delight of my life to seek Him. 
But, alas ! how long shall I be seeking ? How long shall 
I spend my days in wishing and desiring, when my 
glorified brethren spend theirs in rejoicing and enjoying ? 
As the poor imprisoned captive sighs under the burden- 
some clog of his irons, and can only peer through the 
grate, and think of, and long for, the sweetness of that 
liberty which he sees others enjoy : such, methinks, is 
my condition ; I can only look through the grate of this 
prison, my flesh ; I see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob 
sitting down in the kingdom of God ; but, alas ! I myself 
must stand without, longing, striving, fighting, running, 
praying, waiting, for what they do now inherit." 

Evidently, he was open to no invitations but 
such as would lead him into a sphere of laborious 
ministry. Tempting offers of this kind were pre- 
senting themselves to some of his acquaintance. 
For example, Mr. Robert South, of Christ Church, 
had lately been recommended as assistant minister 



64 LIFE I N THE PURITAN UNIVERSITY. 



to the reverend Mr. Richard Baxter, of Kidder- 
minster. There had been some correspondence on 
the subjed, but it had now ceased. Perhaps, that 
" trier of Satan's subtleties" recoiled from the 
suggested alliance, on the ground of some supposed 
incongruity between himself and the sharp young 
graduate. South was a flatterer of Cromwell, 
Baxter was not ; the one was a little too frivolous, 
the other a little too grave ; the one was too politic, 
the other too crotchety ; — at any rate, the union was 
never consummated. How Alleine would have 
rejoiced at the prospedt of such a co-pastorate ! He 
was destined to a life of service very similar to it, 
for in 1655 a letter came to him from Mr. George 
Newton, expressing his desire for his assistance at 
the church of St. Mary Magdalen, at Taunton. This 
occasioned his leaving Oxford without taking his 
master's degree, so eager was he to fulfil the grand 
vocation of his life ; but before the final step, he 
resolved to ride down to Taunton and survey the 
land. 



Chapter IV. 



a Wizit to Caunton anD its €>ID Pastor, 
in t&e Spring: of 1655. 

" How should the hearts of saints within them bound. 
When they behold the messengers that sound 
The gladsome tidings ',—yea, their very feet 
Are beautiful because their words are sweet. 
'Thrice happy land ! which in this pleasant spring 
Can hear these turtles in their hedges sing. 
Oh, prize such mercies /" 

JOHN FLAVEL. 

~ N the spring of 1655, he paid a visit to 
Taunton, to see the old pastor there, 
and to pass through the usual course of 
a probationer. 
Just then, perhaps, there was no town in England 
that had a wider fame, or whose affairs were watched 
by politicians with a keener scrutiny. Its popu- 
lation, if not actually, was relatively very large.* 
It had long been influential on account of its woollen 

* In 1689, 20,000 persons. 
F 




66 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



manufa&ures, although the war with Spain, break- 
ing out this very year, had just for the crisis almost 
destroyed its trade.* It was distinguished for its 
free, intelligent, unconquerable public spirit. Not- 
withstanding some impediments just at first, 
through all the vicissitudes of the great war, it had 
been faithful to the cause of liberty. Twice had 
it been closely besieged by Goring, and twice 
defended with heroic steadfastness by Robert 
Blake. When food had risen to twenty times its 
market value, when many of the inhabitants had 
died of starvation, when half the streets had been 
burnt down by a storm of mortars and rockets, the 
defenders still held their ground, and Blake 
announced to the besiegers his grim resolve not 
to surrender cc until he had eaten his' boots." The 
rage of the Royalists at this prolonged resistance 
knew no bounds, and " in the pages of Clarendon, 
their loud wail and gnashings of teeth are still 
audible."f At last, in July, 1645, ^ e besiegers 
were obliged to withdraw. Just ten years had 
now elapsed since that event, but there was no 
change in the spirit of the people. To the end of 
the century, Taunton could be regarded by none 
without interest, although there was a great dif- 

* Fuller's Worthies, 1655, pp. 15, 19. Twenty years later it 
had quite recovered, and we hear of " the great trade and riches of 
Taunton." — Yarranton, 1677. 

f Hepworth Dixon's Life of Blake. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



67 



ference between the kinds of interest felt in it by 
different men.* One party called it "the metro- 
polis of faftion in the West," and the other thought 
that of all places in that quarter, cc this deserved 
most praise." William Lilly, the astrologer, had 
said that "whatever happened materially in England, 
whether for good or ill," would most likely " show 
itself for the most part in the West." According 
to his own report, he was moved to deliver this 
sage but safe prediction by the appearances of 
Saturn cc being in Gemini, and in the ayery tripli- 
city ;" but we must be allowed to think that he 
also had an eye on Taunton, j- 

The Taunton man of those days was tempted to 
be proud. He gloried in his local interests and 
histories. He thought there was no town like his 
town, and no church like cc Mary Magdalen," up 
whose stately tower he and his companions had 
often mounted in the war, to watch the manoeuvres 
of the enemy amongst the gardens, or under the 
elms that arched the deep green lanes in the vale 
below. Standing near the town wall, he thought 



* North j A. Wood Bishop Sprat. An " Informer," writing to 
Sir Leoline Jenkins, says, " was this wicked town brought down to 
obedience, all the West of England would then be very regular. 11 — ■ 
State Paper Office. 

f A Peculiar Prognostication, astrologically predicted, according 
to Art. By William Lillie, Student in Astrologie. Published for 
generall satisfaction. Jan. 6, 1649. 



68 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



few sights on earth pleasanter than the view across 
that vale, and he was right ; not on account of its 
cc solemn glooms, or sudden glories/' not because 
it ever rises into grandeur or breaks into wildness, 
but because it wears a look so peaceful, so cheerful, 
so homely. Trees all aglow with apple blossoms, 
hedges white with may ; meadows, orchards, che- 
quered squares of cultivation, stretch away in rich 
level variety, mile after mile, till all the gay colours, 
and all the innumerable tiny traceries of the scene, 
softly distind in the sunshine, melt into the waves 
of the blue dreamy hills in the distance. So it 
was when Alleine saw it first, and so it is now. 
The Puritans who were with him — peace be to their 
memory ! — might have pretended not to see this 
broad illuminated beauty ; they might have thought 
of it in the light of a temptation, they might have 
felt half afraid that it betrayed a carnal affedtion to 
admire it ; yet they did admire it, and their delight 
would sometimes burst forth in Bible language. 
A certain hill, about half a mile from the town, 
they used to call Mount Nebo, in allusion to the 
prospedl it commanded ; and the vale itself, they 
said, was cc even as a land flowing with milk and 
honey."* 

But the true glory of Taunton was its Puri- 
tanism, and the great light of its Puritanism 



* Savage's History of Taunton, p. 7. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



69 



was Mr. George Newton, the pastor. He was 
master of arts of Exeter College, Oxford. He 
had received episcopal ordination at the hands of 
Laud, when that prelate was bishop of Bath and 
Wells. After that, he was for a short period 
minister of Hill Bishop, near Taunton, a perpetual 
curacy, then in the gift of Sir George Farewel ; and 
in 1 63 1, became vicar of Taunton Magdalen, by 
the presentation of Sir William Portman and Mr. 
Robert Hill. He soon became a noted cc gos- 
peller." Though naturally timid, cc strength was 
made perfeft in weakness," and he was not timid in 
the assertion of his principles. According to 
Fuller, Somersetshire was the earliest field of the 
Sabbatarian controversy, and it appears that Mr. 
Newton was one of the earliest champions in the 
field, if not the very first, taking the side of the 
Sabbath against the profane decrees of the King. 
When, in 1633, the cc Book of Sports" came out 
by order of council, and was commanded to be 
read in all the churches, he read it, but said imme- 
diately to his congregation, " These are the com- 
mandments of men." He then read the 20th 
chapter of the book of Exodus, saying, cc These 
are the commandments of God ; but whereas in this 
case the laws of God and the laws of man are at 
variance, choose ye which ye will obey." Thus, 
regarding it as an iniquitous law, he contrived at 
once to defeat its objedt, to evade its penalty, and 



7° 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



to set an example of protesting decision to the 
ministers in all the country round.* 

The year 1636 was the date of a remarkable 
episode in the annals of his eventful pastorate. 
This arose out of the emigration of some enter- 
prising members of his flock, to establish an evan- 
gelical colony in America. Burning with zeal to 
spread God's truth abroad, unable to bear the yoke 
of ceremonies imposed upon them by the prelatical 
fadlion at home, and unwilling any longer to pay 
exhausting fines for' nonconformity, they resolved 
to strike out this noble course of independence. 
The fad:, since the time of its occurrence, has 
scarcely been heard of here until lately, and has not 
been published in England until now. After grave 
conference, many tears, and many a meeting for 
prayer, the pilgrims at length set sail, with the 
blessing of their pastor on their cause. We are 
unable to report their numbers, and most of their 
names have dropped out of human memory; but 
amongst them we find Rossiter, Blake, Deane, 
Strong, Attwood, Reed, Hall, and Thomas Fare- 
well, — names still represented in Taunton, and 
showing that we have still amongst us the families 
from which the emigrants sprung. It was the dis- 
tinction of this enterprise that it was led by a lady. 



* Fuller's Church History, sub anno, 1633. Calamy's con- 
tinuation. Savage's History of Taunton. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



71 



Dux fcemina fatti. Governor Winthrop calls her 
" an ancient mayde, one Mistress Poole/' and 
informs us that cc she endured much hardship in 
the undertaking." cc An ardenl love for religion/' 
writes another annalist, cc and an enthusiastic desire 
of planting another church in the American wilder- 
ness, impelled this pious Puritan lady to encounter 
all the dangers and hardships of forming a settle- 
ment among the Indians."* No aftual documen- 
tary evidence exists to show that she first roused 
her friends at Taunton Magdalen to think of " that 
great secret, America ;" j" or that her fortune 
mainly helped them to meet the expenses of the 
voyage, — from her generous and resolute spirit, 
even this is likely ; but we have positive proof 
that she became their leader after their disem- 
barkation at New Plymouth. It was sometime in 
the year 1637, that, starting from Dorchester, she 
led them, and others who joined them there, on their 
pilgrimage in search of a home. The country was 
scattered over, though not always crowded, with 
"oak, fir, beech, walnut-trees, and exceeding great 
chestnut-trees." J Sometimes cutting their path 
through the netted vines that hung from tree to 
tree, sometimes plunging up to the neck through 

* Historical Memoirs of New Plymouth, by Hon F. Baylies, vol. 
ii., p. 2. 

f Sir Thomas Brown. 

J Journey of Winslow and Hopkins in 1621. 



72 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



the tall weeds and grasses, now stooping to peer 
about a spot that was black with the cinders of an 
old camp-fire, and printed with the footmarks of 
unknown forerunners ; now fording a stream, now 
toiling over grey blocks of projecting stone, but 
generally winding along between the stems of the 
forest with comparative ease ; ever catching sight, 
through the leaves, of scudding rabbits, and of 
antlers wafting silently away into the distance ; — 
on the travellers went, until they reached a clear 
space by the borders of the river Titicut. Here 
Mistress Poole purchased lands of cc the salvages," 
and the adventurers established their encampment. 
The spot was about twenty-six miles from Ply- 
mouth, and about thirty-six from Boston. It 
was a still, wild place. Millions of ancient trees 
rustled between them and the world, and the scenery 
seemed to look much as it might have done before 
the creation of man ; but to them it was all holy 
ground. A poet says, although with something of 
a poet's license — 

" Yes, call it holy ground, 

The spot where first they trod ; 
They left unstained, what there they found, — 
Freedom to worship God." 

To this place they agreed to give the name of 
Taunton.* A street of cabins soon sprang up, 



* It was not generally known by this name, but retained its 
Indian name, Cohannet, until its incorporation in 1639. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



73 



but there can be little doubt that their unpretend- 
ing temple, built of logs and twisted roots, was 
completed first, for their first idea was worship. 
Regarding themselves not as a band of worldly 
emigrants, but as a church led to this place by the 
<c pillar of cloud," that they might declare the 
wonders of the Lord amongst the heathen, one of 
their first collective adts was to choose a pastor, and 
the choice fell upon William Hooke, a kinsman of 
Oliver Cromwell,* and cc a learned, holy, and 
humble man."j" Fresh parties joined them. Grist 
mills and saw mills, farms and factories, brick 
fields and iron works gradually gave life to the 
river-side. Here, the first forge ever known in 
America was set up ; and here, let it be recorded 
with due solemnity, was manufactured the first 
American shovel. J Great as was their industrial 
energy, their spiritual energy was greater, and its 
results were still more decisive. The Sabbath was 
observed with austerity, stringent rules were passed 
for social decorum, and frequent use was found for 
the whipping post, sometimes called, irreverently, 
the Puritan Maypole. Moreover — for the truth 
must be told — they did, they certainly did perse- 



* S-i Mr. Emery asserts in his interesting work on the Taunton 
Ministry, but Hooke is not mentioned as one of CromwelPs relations 
by Noble in his memoirs of the Protector's family. 

f Cotton Mather. 

J At Raynham, a spot included in the original purchase. 



74 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



cute Baptists and Quakers. When, in 1651, certain 
Baptists and Quakers at Boston were whipped or 
banished from the colony, the people of Taunton 
gave their voice against them.* The Tauntonians 
came to America for cc freedom to worship God." 
They advocated liberty of conscience, suffered for 
it, fought for it, would have died for it ; but when 
they extended the privilege to others, it was with 
the cautious definition afterwards given by Mr. 
Knickerbocker, cc Liberty of conscience is liberty to 
think what you please, provided you think right" 
We are amazed at the intolerance of these fathers, 
we are grieved by it, but the reverence due to them 
because they were in many things before their age, 
must not be withheld, because in a few things they 
were only on a level with it. ff In the court of 
posterity," remarks Sir James Stephens, cc it is a 
settled point of law, that in mitigation, if not in 
bar of any penal sentence, the defendant may plead 
that the generation to which he belonged did not 
regard as culpable the condudl imputed to him as 
criminal by men of a later age." Let us give them 
the benefit of this consideration, and then turn with 

* Letter from Obadiah Holmes, of New England, to the well- 
beloved brethren John Spilsbury and William Kiffin, in London, 
1652. He narrates the persecution of himself and brethren ; says 
that four petitions were sent to the Plymouth Court, urging " some 
speedy course to suppress the Baptists," and informs us that one 
of these petitions came from " the church at Tanton, as they call 
themselves. ,, — Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ii. ; fourth series. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



75 



relief to the story of their nobler deeds. Their sternly- 
earnest spirit made them indefatigable catechists and 
missionaries ; and we are told that in connexion 
with such labour, many of the Indians were con- 
verted to God. Whether engaged in work or 
worship, the old country was as dear as ever, and 
they had their fasts or thanksgiving days according 
to the nature of the news that reached them of our 
national sorrows or joys. Sermons preached on 
such occasions found their way across the waters, 
were printed here, and may still be met with on old 
book-stalls.* 

Meanwhile, a correspondence was maintained with 
them by their former friends, and during the 
course of their early difficulties, it appears that 
public collections on behalf of their mission were 
made in the church of Taunton Magdalen. Some 
passages are to be found in Mr. Newton's sermons 
that were evidently delivered on such occasions. 
Here is one of his appeals : — 

cc Now, I beseech you, my beloved, cast an eye 



* New England's Teares for Old England's Feares. Preached 
on July 23, 1640, being a day of Publike Humiliation, Sec. By 
William Hooke, minister of God's word, &c. Sent over to a 
member of the honourable House of Commons, who desires it may 
be for publike good. London, 1641. 

New England's Sence of Old England and Jreland's Sorrows." 
By William Hooke, minister of God's word at Taunton in New 
England. London, 1645. 



76 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



upon them" (the people of American Taunton). 
cc Travel thither in your thoughts and medita- 
tions ; there shall you see some servants of Jesus 
Christ, once our fellow-labourers, spending them- 
selves, undergoing difficulties without number or 
measure to convert souls and gather Christians 
among blind heathen ; — there shall you see the 
Gospel blossoming, the church enlarging her tent, 
and striking forth the curtains of her habitation, — 
c the doves flocking to the windows.' What shall 
we do now, beloved, and how shall we behave 
ourselves in this dispensation ? Shall we, as many 
have done heretofore, condemn the instruments, as 
if they went beyond themselves in this business ? 
Shall we mock at these beginnings of the building 
of the temple ? Shall we despise the day of small 
things ? Shall we, like Gallio, care for none of 
these matters ? Truly, the least we can do is to 
comply with Jesus Christ in this design of His, for 
which He sends His ministers into the world, and 
to promote this glorious work to the utmost of 
our power. It is in the hands of those, for whom, 
as you have heard, it is too heavy. As the men of 
Macedonia, they seem to call over to us for help. 
O, let not such a work miscarry, or fail of being 
driven on, for want of any help that we can yield 
it. Truly, my brethren, if we can help it in no 
other way, we can help it by our prayers and our 
purses. We can help it by our prayers. Let us 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



77 



remember that we have a little sister in America, 
and that now is the day of speaking for her, for 
now her case is in agitation ; and therefore now let 
us be in earnest with the Lord ; let us pray, and 
pray hard, let us not be cold and dead in such 
a suit as this. We can help by our purses and 
estate, and this is especially what we have in hand 
at this time. We, methinks, that share not the 
difficulties and dangers that others of our brethren 
undergo amongst the Indians, should be content to 
share a little of the costs ; and therefore I beseech 
you, my beloved, enlarge your bounty more than 
ordinary, in such a choice and extraordinary work 
as this. 

CCf Go, preach my Gospel to every creature,' saith 
Christ. Churches are to be planted all over the 
world. This is the meaning of that famous pro- 
clamation of our King himself, c From the rising of 
the sun even to the going down of the same my 
name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in 
every place incense shall be offered unto my name, 
and a pure offering ; for my name shall be great 
among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts.' 
— Mai. i. 1 1 . c So a great multitude, which no 
man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and 
tribes, and people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
robes, and palms in their hands.' — Apoc. vii. 9. 
And then shall that triumphant voice declare, 



78 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



c The kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
doms of our God and of His Christ; and He shall 
reign for ever and ever.' — Apoc. xi. 15. Help 
this choice work by your purses and prayers ! "* 

A missionary sermon more than two hundred 
years old will be regarded by some persons as a 
curiosity. It is strange when turning over leaves 
on which, perhaps, the light of the nineteenth 
century never shone before, in a book which may 
have been forgotten for many generations, to find 
sentences that flame with such evangelic intelli- 
gence and liberality as these. You go back in 
thought to the day of the Commonwealth ; you 
enter a church ; you see the minister stand, quaintly 
garmented, with hour-glass at his side ; you hear 
him preach a wonderfully complicated sermon ; he 
quotes cc Plutarch, his witty sarcasm," and also 
what cc Tully " or Cf Austin saith." Perhaps he 
tells you that something which he is saying is cc as 
Bernard phraseth it ;" or, cc as the Greek philosopher 
hath well observed ;" or, cc as Rabbi David Gantz 
hath summed up." Then he has a word or two 



* These passages occur in a folio with this title, " An Expo- 
sition with Notes unfolded and applied on John xvii. By- 
George Newton, minister of the Gospel. Dedicated to the Honour- 
able Colonel John Gorges, governour of the city of Londonderry 
and the castle of Cullmore in Ireland, my duly honoured and dearly 
beloved brother." Though not published until 1660, he says these 
discourses were preached when he had no assistant. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



79 



strongly flavoured with personality for the squires 
in the chancel, reproving them for wasteful expen- 
diture in Cf hawks and hounds ;"* after that, with 
startling unexpe6tedness, very striking by force of 
contrast with all the old-fashioned things in the 
connexion, he preaches about foreign missions just 
as your minister might have done last Sunday. 

But we are now chiefly thinking of New 
Taunton. If the preacher had been gifted for the 
moment with the vision of a seer, and had been 
able to look down the long perspective of its future 
course, he would have been almost ready to say, 
<f Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace." Since the day when he thus pleaded on its 
behalf, it has gone from stage to stage of develop- 
ment. For a long time this was not known here. 
cc Out of sight, out of mind." After the first 
generation, correspondence dropped, and the story 
of cc the little sister in America " was forgotten 
until the year 1856, when the successors of the 
original emigrant church sent a message of inquiry 
and love to the successors of the ancestral church 
in England. With this came cheering informa- 
tion.-)- They have been honoured from the com- 
mencement with a long line of eminent ministers, 



* These and similar references are to be found in Mr. Newton's 
various sermons, 
f Appendix I. 



8o 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



many of whom still live in their writings, and 
whose biographies, ably narrated by the pastor 
who now succeeds them, will long edify thousands.* 
Taunton has become the parent of seven other 
towns, all within the limits of the original settle- 
ment. Not only is the Christian community first 
formed, still existing, but with it forty others, all 
in the same cluster of towns. Comparing the old 
lists in the parochial register here with the lists of 
those who have signed the various church covenants 
there, we find that the children of George Newton's 
hearers are treading in the steps of their fathers, 
and are inheriting a legacy of good results from 
the ministry of their father's pastor. The hardy 
virtues of Puritan Somersetshire, that struck root 
in the far wilderness so long since, are living still, 
cc sending out their branches to the sea, and 
their boughs to the river ;" and the seeds cast by 
an English lady on the waters of the Atlantic are 
"seen after many days," flowering with the 
thousand glories of spiritual life and usefulness. 

We must return to the main line of the story. 
In the year 1642, Taunton being besieged by the 
Royalist forces, Mr. Newton was obliged to make 
his escape from the place. When the town was 
recovered for the Parliament, it was still too closely 



* The Ministry of Taunton. By Samuel Hopkins Emery. 
2 vols. Boston, 1853. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



81 



invested to admit of the fugitive pastor's easy 
return. During the siege, therefore, he exercised 
his ministry in the abbey of St. Albans. We find 
him in his old pulpit again in 1646, at the anniver- 
sary of the town's deliverance, taking for his text, 
cc Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the 
remainder thereof thou shalt restrain."* In 1654, 
he was placed by ordinance on the commission for 
inquiry into cc scandalous, ignorant, and inefficient 
ministers," f a thankless post, and the recollection 
of it by Mr. Wood, when writing the short notice 
of his life, gave new pungency to that writer's acid 
sentences. 

Great as Mr. Newton's provincial influence 
undoubtedly was, it would be wrong to speak of 
him as an eminent man in comparison with the 
eminent men of his day. He was no type of 
" great greatness," but only of an average Puritan 
minister. cc Pastor vigilant is sirnus, doctrina et 

* Man's Wrath and God's Praise. A Sermon on Psalm lxxvi. 
10. By George Newton. London, 1646. Many sermons were 
preached on this occasion by various other ministers. In one 
preached before Parliament the preacher said, — 
" O give thanks to the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy 
endureth for ever j 
Who remembered us at Naseby, for His mercy endureth for ever 5 
Who remembered us in Pembrokeshire, for His mercy endureth 
for ever ; 

Who remembered us at Taunton, for His mercy endureth for 

ever." — Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 18. 
f Wood's Fasti. 

G 



82 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



pietate insignis" says one of his friends. cc Very- 
much the gentleman/' remarks another ; a peace- 
maker, " keeping out of the town those divisions 
that did so much mischief in other places," adds a 
third. He was a sound scholar, a faithful preacher, 
and, in his day, not without name as a theological 
writer. Both in preaching and writing his style 
was prolix, negligent, and leisurely as fireside chat, 
though sometimes breaking out into minute origi- 
nalities of fancy, and into words that rang with a 
quaint alliterative tinkle. Now and then he 
might be too elaborate in his attempts to win the 
verdid of the clothworkers for a new rendering of 
some Hebrew text, and would too readily assume 
their perfeft familiarity with things that could only 
be drawn from obscure and remote springs of learn- 
ing. Yet they profited much by his preaching and 
more by his life, for it was a life of holiness and 
love. Bright, benign face ; head comforted with 
a velvet cap ; brown locks touched with silver, 
soon to be changed into a glory of snowy white- 
ness, flowing down to his broad bands and prim 
Geneva gown ; the Bible in his hand ; — his very 
appearance a sermon.* Such was George Newton, 
when he and Alleine had their first conversation. 



* Thus represented in a coloured drawing preserved in the Wilson 
Collection of Prints. This collection includes 1145 portraits and 
other engravings illustrative of Nonconformist biography. 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



83 



The elder minister was most urgent in renewing 
his request for the assistance of the younger. cc I 
soon observed him/' said he, " to be a young man 
of singular accomplishments, natural and acquired. 
His intellectuals solid, his affections lively, his 
learning much beyond the ordinary size, and, above 
all, his holiness eminent. He had a good head and 
a better heart." Not yet more than twenty-one, it 
appeared to be a premature honour to be nominated 
as the associate of this old divine. We must re- 
member that it was not as a pastor, but only as an 
assistant that he was thought of. To him the offer 
had the aspect not only of a new sphere for Chris- 
tian services, but of a new stage in his education, — 
it would gradually fit him for those higher functions 
of his calling, for which there can be no training 
but that which is acquired in the school of expe- 
rience. But a call from the congregation, as well 
as from Mr. Newton, was required. During the 
few Sundays that preceded this formal election, he 
preached a series of discourses on the obedience of 
subjects to the supreme magistrate, founding them 
on the sentence, cf Let every soul be subject to the 
higher powers." This was a strange topic at such 
a time, and to take it was a delicate experiment in 
such a place. We have in this fact an unexpected 
precedent for political sermons ! His motive seems 
to have been a wish to be quite transparent in his 
dealings with the people, that they might know at 

G 2 



VISIT TO TAUNTON. 



first, the particulars in which his sentiments differed 
from their own. He was a Royalist. In his inter- 
pretation of the text in question, he brought out 
principles that clashed with the views of many a 
sturdy republican there. Some were offended. For 
the most part, however, they liked him all the 
better for his outspoken spirit. Whatevef his 
political theories might be, there could be no doubt 
that he was a true man, and a true preacher of the 
Gospel, and this they valued above all things, so 
they asked him to be their teacher. In the course 
of time, as we shall see, most of them adopted his 
politics. There was a parting visit to the vicarage, 
when, the two friends having sat and talked 
together, and then prayed together, the student 
rode back to his college chamber to pray alone. 



Chapter V. 



Settlement 

" Being now, therefore, settled in that sweet and civil country, 
. . . . the uncouth solitariness of my life, and the extreme incom- 
modity of that single housekeeping, drew my thoughts to condescend to 
the necessity of a married estate ; which God no less strangely -provided 
for me for walking from church, . . . with a grave and 
reverend minister, I saw a comely and modest gentlewoman standing 
at the door of the house .... and enquiring of that worthy 
friend whether he knew her. 1 Yes J quoth he, ' I know her well.'' 

When I further demanded of him an account of that 

answer, he told me that she was the daughter of a gentleman whom he 
much respeSled .... advising me not to neglecl opportunity 
. . . . not concealing the just praises of the modesty, piety, good 
disposition, and other virtues that were lodged in that seemly presence, 
I listened to the motion as sent from God-, and at last, upon due 
prosecution, happily prevailed" 

BISHOP HALL'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF J 

Scrips!, May 29, 1647. 

E have been detained too long in the 
company of Mr. George Newton ; for 
there is another personage, of greater 
importance to this history, to whom we 
ought to have sought introduction earlier. This 




86 



ALLEINPS SETTLEMENT. 



is Mistress Theodosia, the daughter of cc that 
reverend man/' Mr. Richard Alleine, kinsman of 
Joseph, and parson of Batcombe, in Somerset. 
He and this gentlewoman were on excellent terms. 
In August, 1654, they had met at the redory — 
they had become friends — then, there was the old 
story of friendship blooming into love. Do not 
expeft a romantic tale. Besides the fragment of 
an epistle, already given in the account of his life 
at Oxford, the only memorial of this time is a let- 
ter written by him on the subjed of the Taunton 
invitation. For its style as a love-letter, it might 
have been composed by John Knox; but there 
is every reason to believe that it interested its first 
reader, and, for its spirit of beautiful godliness 
and manliness, it ought to have a charm for 
every one : — 

" My dear Heart, — By this time I hope thou hast 
received mine by Martin, and also an answer touching 
their resolution at Taunton. My thoughts have been 
much upon that business of late, so small as the outward 
encouragements in point of maintenance are, and methinks 
I find my heart much inclining that way. I will tell thee 
the principles upon which I go. 

" First, I lay this for a foundation, that a man's life con- 
sisteth not in the abundance of the things that he pos- 
sesseth. It was accounted a wise prayer that Agur put 
up, of old, that he might only be fed with food con- 
venient for him. And certain it is, that where men have 
least of the world, they esteem it least, and live more by 



ALLEINKS SETTLEMENT. 



87 



faith and in dependence upon God, casting their care and 
burden upon Him. O, the sweet breathings of David's 
soul ! the strong actings of his faith and love, that we 
find come from him, when his condition was low and 
mean in the world. How closely doth he cling, how 
fully doth he rely upon God ! The Holy Ghost seems 
to make it a privilege to be brought to a necessity of living 
by faith, as, I think, I have formerly hinted thee, out of 
Deut. xi. 10, 11; where Canaan is preferred before 
iEgypt, in regard of its dependence upon God for the 
former and latter rain, which in iEgypt they could live 
without, and have supplies from the river. And certainly 
could we that are unexperienced, but feel the thorns of 
those cares and troubles that there are in gathering and 
keeping much, and the danger when riches increase of 
setting our hearts upon them, we should prize the happi- 
ness of a middle condition much before it. Doubtless, 
godliness with contentment is great gain. c Seekest 
thou great things for thyself? ' saith the prophet to Baruch ; 
c seek them not.' Certainly a good conscience is a con- 
tinual feast, and enough for a happy life : no man that 
warreth intangleth himself with the affairs of this life, 
that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a 
souldier. We should be but little encumbered with the 
things of this world, and withal free from a world of 
entanglements, which in a great place committed wholly 
to our charge, would be upon our consciences as no 
small burden. 

" Secondly, I take this for an undoubted truth, that a 
dram of grace is better than a talent of wealth ; and 
therefore such a place where our consciences would be 
free, and we had little to do in the world to take off our 
hearts and thoughts from the things of eternity, and had 



88 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



the advantage of abundance of means, and the daily oppor- 
tunities of warming our hearts with the blessed society 
and conference of heavenly Christians, and no tempta- 
tions to carry us away, nor discouragements in our walk- 
ing with God, and the due performance of our duty ; is 
(if we pass a true and spiritual judgment, as the Holy 
Ghost in Scripture would,) without comparison before 
another place, void of those spiritual helps and advantages. 
Let us think with ourselves, what though our purses, our 
estates, may thrive better in a place of a large main- 
tenance ? yet where are our graces, our souls, like to 
thrive any way answerable to what they are in this ? 
We should have but little in this world ; but what 
is this, if it be made up to us, as it will surely be, in 
communion with God and His people ? If we thrive 
in faith and love, humility and heavenly-mindedness, 
aSj above all places I know, we are likely to do there, 
what matter is it though we do not raise ourselves 
in the world ? The thing itself may well be accounted 
but mean ; but let us look upon it with a spiritual 
eye, and then we shall pass another judgment of it. 
Who would leave so much grace, and so much comfort 
in communion with Christ and His saints, as we may gain 
there, for the probabilities of living with a little more 
gentility and handsomeness in the world ? 'Tis a strange 
thing to see how Christians generally do judge so carnally 
of things^ looking to the things that are seen and temporal, 
and not the things that will stick by us to eternity. 
What is it worth a year ? Is the maintenance certain and 
sure ? What charges are there like to be ? These are 
the questions we commonly ask first, when we speak of 
settling. But, though those things are duly to be con- 
sidered too, yet what good am I like to do ? what good 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



8 9 



am I like to get ? — (both which questions I think might 
be as comfortably answered concerning this, as any place 
in England) — these should be the main interrogatories, 
and the chief things we should judge of a place to settle 
in. What if we have but a little in the world ? Why 
then we must keep but a short table, and shall make but a 
little noise in the world, and must give the meaner 
entertainments to our friends. Will not this be abun- 
dantly made up, if we have more outward and inward 
peace, as we may well count we shall have ? One dram 
of saving grace will weigh down ail this. Let others hug 
themselves in their corn, and wine, and oil, in their fat 
livings, and their large tables, and their great resort, if we 
have more of the light of God's countenance, more grace, 
more comfort, who would change with them ? Surely, 
if Paul were to choose a place, he would not look so 
much what 'twas a year, but would wish us to take that 
where we might be most likely to save our own and 
others' souls. 

" Thirdly, That the best and surest way to have any 
outward mercy, is to be content to want it. When men's 
desires are over-eager after the world, they must have thus 
much a year, and a house well furnished, and wife, and 
children, thus and thus qualified, or else they will not be 
content ; God doth usually, if not constantly, break their 
wills by denying them, as one would cross a froward 
child of his stubborn humour ; or else puts a sting into 
them, that a man had been as good he had been with- 
out them, as a man would give a thing to a froppish 
child, but it may be with a knock on his fingers, and a 
frown to boot. The best way to get riches, is out of 
doubt to set them lowest in one's desires. Solomon 
found it so. Alas, he did not ask riches, but wisdom and 



9° 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



ability, to discharge his great trust ; but God was so 
pleased with his prayer, that he threw in them into the 
bargain. If we seek the kingdom of God, and His 
righteousness in the first place, and leave other things to 
Him, God will not stand with us for these outwards ; 
though we never ask them, we shall have them as over 
measure ; God will throw them in as the vantage. And 
to this suits the experience of our dear Honoratius ; 
indeed (saith he, speaking of God), Honoratius finds 
that his only hiding-place and refuge, and a place of 
succour, from the storms that fall upon him, and hath had 
such helps at a dead lift there, that he is engaged for ever 
to trust there. For when he had been lowest and in the 
greatest straits, he hath gone and made his moan heaven- 
ward, with free submission to the rightful Disposer of all 
things, and he hath been so -liberally supplied, as makes 
him very confident the best way to obtain any mercy, or 
supply, is to be content to be without it : and he is per- 
suaded nothing sets God's mercies further off*, than want 
of free submission to want them. Certainly God will 
never be behind-hand with us. Let our care be to build 
His house, and let Him alone to build ours. 

" Fourthly, That none ever was, or ever shall be, a 
loser by Jesus Christ. Many have lost much for Him, 
but never did, never shall any lose by Him. Take this 
for a certainty, whatsoever probabilities of outward com- 
forts we leave, whatsoever outward advantages we balk, 
that we may glorify Him in our services, and enjoy Him 
in His ordinances more than others where we could, we 
shall receive an hundredfold in this life. 'Tis a sad thing 
to see how little Christ is trusted or believed in the world : 
men will trust Him no farther than they can see Him, 
and will leave no work for faith. Hath He not a 



ALLEINE'S SETTLEMENT. 



9 1 



thousand ways, both outward and inward, to make up a 
little outward disadvantage to us ? What doth our faith 
serve for ? Have any ventured themselves upon Him in 
His way, but He made good every word of the promise 
to them ? Let us therefore exercise our faith, and stay 
ourselves upon the promise, and see if ever we are 
ashamed of our hope. 

" Fifthly, That what is wanting in the means, God will 
make up in the blessing. This I take for a certain 
truth, while a man commits himself and his affairs to God, 
and is in a way that God put him into : now if a man 
have but a little income, if he have a great blessing, 
that's enough to make it up. We must not account 
mercies by the bulk. What if another have a pound to 
my ounce, if mine be gold for his silver, I will never 
change with him. As 'tis not bread that keeps men alive, 
but the word of blessing that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God ; so 'tis not the largeness of the means, but the 
blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. Oh ! if men 
did but believe this, they would not grasp so much of the 
world as they do. Well, let others take their course, and 
we will take ours, to wait upon God by faith and prayer, 
and rest in His promise \ and I am confident that is the 
way to be provided for. Let others toil to enlarge their 
income (but alas, they will find they go not the right way 
to work), we will bless God to enlarge our blessing, and 
I doubt not but we shall prove the gainers. 

" Sixthly, That every condition hath its snares, crosses, 
and troubles, and therefore we may not expect to be 
without them, wherever we be; only that condition is most 
eligible that hath fewest and least. I cannot object any- 
thing against the proposal of Taunton, but the meanness 
of the maintenance; but if our income be but short, we 



9 2 



ALLEINKS SETTLEMENT. 



can, I hope, be content to live answerably. We must 
fare the meaner, that will be all the inconvenience that I 
know, and truly I hope we are not of the nature of that 
animal, that hath his heart in his belly. I know how 
Daniel thrived by his water and pulse, and think a mean 
diet is as wholesome to the body, yea, and far less hurtful 
than a full and liberal is ; and persuade myself it would be 
no such hard matter for us contentedly to deny our flesh 
in this respect. But let us consider how little and utterly 
inconsiderable this inconvenience is, in comparison of 
those we must reckon upon meeting with, if God cast us 
into another place ; and whether this be not a great deal 
less than the trouble we shall have for want of comfort- 
able and Christian society, for want of the frequent and 
quickening means we shall here have, in wrangling and 
contending with the covetous, or else losing our dues, in 
the railings and scandalous and malicious reports, that are 
we see raised upon the best, by the wicked in most places, 
in their contentions about their right to the sacraments, in 
our entanglement in the cares and troubles of this life, 
&c, all which we should be here exempted from. Upon 
these and the like considerations, I find my heart very 
much inclined to accept of their offer at Taunton. I 
beseech thee to weigh, and thoroughly consider the 
matter, and tell me impartially thy thoughts, and which 
way thy spirit inclines, for I have always resolved the 
place I settled in should be thy choice, and to thy con- 
tent. The least intimation of thy will to the contrary, 
shall overbalance all my thoughts of settling there, for I 
should account it the greatest unhappiness if I should thus 
settle, and thou shouldst afterwards be discontented at 
the straitness of our condition. But I need not have 
writ this, hadst not thou fully signified thy mind already 



ALLEINE'S SETTLEMENT. 



93 



to me, I had never gone so far as I have. Well, the 
Lord whose we are, and whom we serve, do with us as 
it shall seem good unto Him. We are always as mindful 
as is possible of thee here, both together and apart. Cap- 
tain Luke desired me to entreat thee to meet him one two 
hours in a day, for the commemoration of mercies upon 
the twenty-third day of every month. Send word to me 
of their resolution at Taunton, in two letters, lest possibly 
one of them should miscarry, though never a one did yet. 
I dare not think of settling under ^60 * at Taunton, and 
surely it cannot be less. I have written as well as I 
could on a sudden my mind to thee. I have been so 
large in delivering my judgment, that I must thrust up my 
affections into a corner. Well, though they have but a 
corner in my letter, I am sure they have room enough in 
my heart ; but I must conclude. The Lord keep thee, 
my dear, and cherish thee for ever in His bosom. Fare- 
well, mine own soul, 

" I am ever thine own heart, 

" Jos. Alleine." 

" Oxon, May 27, 1655." 



* Although he only anticipated this, he actually received £80, 
which, it appears, was raised by 'voluntary contributions. — (Life, 
p. 99.) This, though small when measured by the scale of alms- 
giving which he thought it right to maintain in a parish where there 
were so many poor, will appear to have been in reality no very mean 
stipend when the different value of money in those days is taken into 
account. 

Dr. Hook remarks on it thus : — " When the Dissenters had aided 
in the rebellion, he, as a zealous Puritan, was provided for out of the 
confiscated property of the church." 

Ecclesiastical Biography : containing the Lives of Ancient Fathers 
and Modern Divines, interspersed with notices of Heretics and 
Schismatics. 



94 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



Theodosia consented to these views. In a few 
weeks Mr. Alleine is seen in Taunton streets again, 
and shortly after that we hear of his ordination. 

In the early days of Presbyterian ascendency, 
young ministers, who had been nominated by patrons 
or eledted by parishes, presented themselves for 
ordination or indu&ion before a committee of 
ministers, formed under the sanction of the West- 
minster Assembly. After a time, it was voted to 
be inconvenient for the gate of the ministry to be 
in the charge of Presbyterians only, because they 
would allow Presbyterians only to enter it. It 
was Cromwell's principle that all able and godly 
preachers, of what cf tolerable opinion soever they 
were," provided they were not openly opposed to 
the reigning Government, or the accepted orthodoxy 
of the day, should be on equal terms in the State. 
In order to this, by an ordinance dated March 20, 
1653, the powers of the old clerical committee were 
transferred to cc the Triers," a new examining 
board, approved by the council or the parliament, 
and consisting of divines and laymen of various 
religious persuasions.* This commission held 
its sessions in London, but sub-commissioners 
were employed to ad for it in distant places.")* 



* Scobel, p. 279. 

f " That a certain number of ministers and others be appointed 
to sit in every county, to examine, judge, and approve all such per- 



ALLEINFS SETTLEMENT. 



95 



The Triers have been burlesqued as endea- 
vouring 

" To find, in lines of beard and face, 
The physiognomy of grace ; 
And by the sound of twang and nose, 
If all be sound within disclose."' 

They certainly owed their office to arbitrary 
power, and sometimes exercised its functions in a 
narrow spirit. Amongst them were some who 
thought "grace" in a minister atoned for the com- 
parative absence of Cf gifts ;" and others, of whom 
complaint might have been made in the words 
of John Howe, — fc It is not enough that a man 
should say to them, <S7^boleth ; but he must say 
Shibboleth, or they will slay him for an Ephraimite." 
Yet, when you study the list of eminent men who 
were on the commission — Cf the acknowledged 
flower of English Puritanism "* — you would feel 
unable to believe that they would eledl incompetent 



sons as shall be called to preach the Gospel."" — Order of the House, 
April 5j 1653. Whitelock, p. 52,8. This order with reference to 
the appointment of Triers " in every county" never appears to have 
been fully carried out ; for John Goodwin, whose Arminian principles 
brought him into trouble from the London Commissioners, calls 
them u hyper-archepiscopal, and super-metropolitan,'" and complains 
of them for holding their sittings exclusively in London. Haaaviarai, 
or the Tryers (or Tormentors) Tried and Cast, 1657, p. 25. There 
must have been some ground for the charge, although it was over- 
stated. 

* Carlyle's Cromwell, vol. iii., p. 323. 



9 6 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



deputies to serve in the remoter counties. There 
is ample evidence to show that in the main the 
Triers performed their task with thoroughness and 
with tenderness, rejecting no applicants who were 
good and competent ministers of religion, whether 
Presbyterian, Independent, Prelatist, or Baptist 
— unless, indeed, though good and competent in 
other respe&s, their avowed opinions were dangerous 
to the ruling powers. 

Through this cc strait passage" Mr. Alleine had 
to pass when down in Somersetshire in the month of 
August. Among the local Triers were Thomas 
Lye, M.A., of Wadham College, then minister of 
Chard ; William Thomas, M.A., redlor of Ubleigh, 
the friend of Bishop Bull ;* and Edward Bennett, 
M.A., of New Inn Hall, then minister of South 
Petherton. When we find a detailed account of 
the ordeal, we may exped to see conneded with it 
the name of Henry Jessey, M.A., the well-known 
Baptist minister, who was then re&or of St. George's, 
Southwark ; for just at this time he was on a 
visit to the Baptist churches in the neighbourhood. 
He was one of the most famous members of the 
Supreme Court of Triers ; and it would have been 
strange if the deputies, whom he had helped to 
appoint, knowing him to be near, had not invited 
him to take part on the occasion, — an occasion in 



* Nelson's Life of Dr. George Bull, p. 15. 



ALLEINE S SETTLEMENT. 



97 



which he would feel peculiar interest from his 
knowledge of Mr. Alleine, gained by visits to 
Corpus Christi. But this is conjecture ; we only- 
know that Alleine passed through the trial without 
obstacle, and was, at the close, presented with 
parchments, to certify that he was confirmed in 
his appointment by authority of council. 

He was a Presbyterian, and therefore had yet 
to be ordained by the presbytery. From Philip 
Henry's account of the first stages in his own 
ministerial course, we learn that it was usual for 
this to take place after receiving the license of the 
State from the Triers.* The process opened with 
a new series of examinations. When the candidate 
appeared before the neighbouring presbyters, in- 
quiry was ma^Le as to cc his experience of the work 
of grace in his heart." Verses in the Hebrew 
and Greek Scriptures were given him to read and 
construe. He was examined in logic, natural 
philosophy, and systematic divinity. To test his 
skill in exposition, his opinion was asked on some 
obscure text in Scripture. A case of conscience 
was stated for him to solve. He was questioned 
in church history. He was requested to prepare 
in Latin a thesis on some given subject, to be 
read at the next meeting; and, lastly, certificates 



* Philip Henry's Life. Appendix. He was ordained in 1657, 
two years later than Alleine. 

H 



9 8 



ALLEINE S SETTLEMENT. 



of good character were required from the university, 
and also from well-known ministers. After all 
this, the a&ual ordination service was appointed 
to take place a month later. A written announce- 
ment of the approaching solemnity, accompanied 
with a notice to the following effeft, was read on 
the next Sunday from the pulpit, and afterwards 
nailed on the church-door : — 

cc If any man can produce any just exceptions 
against the dodrine or life of Mr. Joseph Alleine, 
or any sufficient reason why he may not be or- 
dained, let him certify the same to the clerk of the 
presbytery, and it shall be heard and considered." 

No obje&ion arising, Mr. Alleine was set 
apart to the ministry on the day specified, at a 
public association meeting held at Taunton;* the 
nature and order of the service being the same 
as adopted by modern Dissenters. Such were the 
forms through which, in the days of Cromwell, 
a young Levite had to pass before he entered upon 
the exercise of his calling. 

One objedl in life was now gained ; but he had 
yet another in view. Thoughtful people, with 
much concern, saw him every fortnight set out 
for a ride of twenty-five miles, on some mysterious 
errand, into the country. It was an exciting faft, 
especially (if we may descend to a thing so trivial), 



Mr. Alleine's account. 



ALLEINKS SETTLEMENT. 



99 



when the state of the roads was considered. So 
primitive were they that, according to one authority, 
cc it would not have cost more to make them 
navigable, than fit for carriages and, according 
to another, after a hard frost, the unhappy traveller 
had cc to lead his horse with one hand, and with 
the other to use a strong staff for breaking the 
ice, nine miles out of ten."f The autumn rains 
were beginning to fall, the rural journeys were not 
beginning to slacken. What would become of the 
minister, and why, oh why, did he perform this 
penance ? Mr. Newton was in the secret, as 
perhaps you are ; had some talk with him on the 
subjedl of the expedition, and then advised him 
to get married. Knowing that through his lavish 
generosity he was not yet able to furnish a house, 
he drew a touching pifture of his own widowed and 
lonely life,J and urged that he and Theodosia 
should have their home at the vicarage. His 
eloquence prevailed. They were married on the 
4th of O&ober, 1655, "contrary to our purpose," 
remarks Theodosia, Cf we resolving to have remained 
much longer single." They became his guests, 

* Such was the complaint, even when civilization had marched 
the stage of a century beyond this time. — Speech of Thomas 
Prowse, Esq., in the House of Commons, when Taunton applied 
for a Turnpike Acl, in 1752. 

f Locke's M.S. Savage's edition of Toulmin's History of Taunton, 
566 ; Roberts's Life of Monmouth, vol. ii., p. 295. 

J Mr. Newton's second wife died December 31st, 1645. 



IOO 



ALLEINE S SETTLEMENT. 



and he cc entertained them courteously for the space 
of two years." 

To their honour and to his own infamy, Mr. 
Wood seems to have darted all the venom of his 
nature into the account he has left of this lady 
as well as of her husband. Before he died he seems 
to have relented somewhat; for, in a manuscript 
of his, preserved in the Ashmole Museum, he 
says: — 4C Theodosia Alleine was accounted among 
her partie, a religious woman, and a good neigh- 
bour." This praise was well deserved ; for she was 
her husband's true helper and solace in all his life 
of manifold sacrifice and benefa£tion, in all his 
labours and imprisonments, in all his last long 
agonies, and much of our knowledge of his personal 
history we owe to her pen. 

Amongst the letters of congratulation Alleine 
received on his marriage, was one from an old 
college friend, who said that he had some thoughts 
of copying his example, but wished to be wary, 
and would therefore take the freedom of asking 
him to describe the inconveniences of a married life. 
He replied, — cc Thou wouldst know the incon- 
veniences of a wife, and I will tell thee. First 
of all, whereas thou risest constantly at four in 
the morning, or before, she will keep thee till 
about six ; secondly, whereas thou usest to study 
fourteen hours in the day, she will bring thee to 
eight or nine ; thirdly, whereas thou art wont to 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



IOI 



forbear one meal at least in the day for thy studies, 
she will bring thee to thy meat. If these are not 
mischiefs enough to affright thee, I know not what 
thou art." 

cc At the end of two years," writes his wife, 
cc hoping to be more useful in our station, we 
took a house, and I, having always been bred 
to work, undertook to teach a school, and had 
many tablers* and scholars, our family being seldom 
less than twenty, and many times thirty ; my 
school usually fifty or sixty of the town and other 
places."-)- And the Lord was pleased to bless 
us exceedingly in our endeavours ; so that many 
were converted in a few years that were before 
strangers to God. All our scholars called him 
father ; and indeed he had far more care of them 
than most of their natural parents, and was most 
tenderly affectionate to them, but especially to their 
souls." 

This happy period of his life was still further 
brightened by a few special friendships. One or 
two of his friends we will name now on our way 
to the description of certain events in which 
perhaps they may have to take a part. His 
most intimate companion was Mr. John Norman, 



* Boarders. 

f "The daughters of gentlemen of good ranke far and near.'" — 
Letter written by " a Conformable minister/ 1 his familiar acquaintance. 



102 



ALLEINE' S SETTLEMENT. 



minister of St. Mary's, Bridgewater. He was 
a strong thinker, a delicate casuist, and became 
well known through the country for the piety and 
scholarship that shone in his life and writings.* 
He had been acquainted with Alleine at Oxford, 
although he was there much his senior, and took 
his master's degree when the other had not long 
matriculated. They were like brothers, and right 
glad were they to be neighbours. Mrs. Alleine 
always called him cc My brother Norman," because, 
it is said, her sister had been his first wife. His 
present wife was daughter of Humphrey Blake, 
and niece to the great admiral. 

Another of his friends, although in a more dis- 
tant and reverential way, was the Lady Farewell, 
of Hill Bishops, who was granddaughter to the 
Duke of Somerset, Lord Prote£lor in the time of 
Edward the Sixth. She was frequently seen at 
Taunton Church. Warm was the welcome that 
he was wont to receive at her home,— 

" The house, quaint-gabled, hid in rooky trees 

and many were the opportunities there enjoyed 
of refined and graceful intercourse, c< sandlified 
by the word of God and by prayer." After the 



* Christ's Commission Officer, 8vo,, 1658. Warning to God's 
Watchmen, 8vo , 1659. Cases of Conscience, 8vo., p. 400. Family- 
Governors exhorted to Family Godliness. Christ Confessed, 1665. 



ALLEINE'S SETTLEMENT. 



death of this lady, in 1660, Mr. Newton thus 
magnified her excellences, in a letter addressed 
to her son; he had just been speaking of her 
husband, Sir George, who had died twelve years 
before her. 

<c They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in 
death (I rest assured) they are not divided, 

" Indeed they were awhile divided, as she was left 
a solitary turtle in a vale of tears ; where she livedo 
not in pleasure, but in a strict performance (not of the 
easiest only, but) of the hardest and severest private 
duties, and in diligent attendance on the publique ordi- 
nances, in her own and in the neighbour congregations ; 
under which, while some were hardened, she melted, and 
closely dropt many a silent, secret tear (I speake it upon 
good assurance), which, though she covered, God 
observed and received into His bottle. 

" How glad she was on all occasions to go up to the 
house of the Lord, to which she went in a religious 
equipage, attended with her train. She said not ite, 
but eamus ; not c Go ye,' but c Let us go.' In every holy 
duty she was first, being resolved, with Joshua : c / and 
my house will serve the Lord. 9 Not c my house, and 
not iy not c I, and not my house ;' not c my house and 
then I ;' but c I, I first, and then my house ; I and my 
house ; I, with my house, will serve the Lord.' 

" Among many other graces which I have not room 
to mention, her humility was orient. Herein she was 
an example, I may say, tantum non, beyond example. 
Though she had many things to stand upon — birth, title, 
education, &c. — so that she might have said, with 



104 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



reference to others of her quality, c Whereinsoever they 
are bold^ I am bold also ; 9 yet she seemed not to know it. 
She had exa&ly learned Bernard's golden rule, which 
he illustrates with a similie : c As he that goes in at a 
little low door^ it matters not how much he stoops^ but if he 
beare himself one inch too high, he is in danger. 9 So she 
regarded not how low she stoopt, nor how far she 
condescended, in doing any office^ or in bearing any 
burthen^ wherein she might fulfil the law of love. 

u To say the truth, her whole demeanour was so 
incomparably sweetened with this amiable grace, that 
it was strangely taking and obliging, with all that had 
the happiness and honour to converse with her. And 
for her habit ; she was clothed with humility — that was 
her richest ornament. She did not (as Tertullian speaks 
of some) wear grounds and groves and manors on her backe. 
She look't not after the adorning of the outward man, 
either with garish or with gorgeous rayment ; but after 
the adorning of the inward man^ with holynesse and grace, 
which is of great price in the sight of God; whose pure 
eyes ladies and gentlewomen should rather strive to please, 
than the wanton eyes of men. 

" She was a lady of a choice temper, and had a 
singular command upon her passions, transcendantly 
beyond the ordinary measure of her sex. She had 
the government of her own spirit^ and the possession of her 
soul in patience, while others use their soul in passion. 
No injuries of men transported her into those wilde extra- 
vagancies and excesses, which some are carried out into, 
upon very slight occasions. And when the hand of God 
was on her in any way, she humbled herself. Humble 
she was in the most flourishing and prosperous state, but 
then especially she humbled herself She was not only 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



I0 5 



humiliata, but humilis too. She stoopt and kisst the rod, 
was dumb and said nothing ; not a word either to justifie 
herself or to charge God foolishly. In her last sicknesse, 
she reflected in her thoughts, and her discourses, on 
the long time of health she had enjoyed, that she might 
take occasion thence, both to bring down and to lift up 
her own heart. To bring it down to meekness and 
submission^ to lift it up to thankfulnesse. To rayse it and 
to enlarge it (as she did) in the high prayses of the God 
of her mercy. 

" As her meekness and humility^ so her charity 
abounded. To her power ^ yea^ and beyond her power some- 
times, she was willing of herself For the poor she 
devised liberal things^ considered them^ observed and studied 
their condition, and drew out (not her purse only but) 
her very soul to the needy. She made her friends of 
the unrighteous mammon^ which she dispensed to the 
righteous , especially to the household of faith. 

cc I wander in so wide a field that I forget the narrow 
limits of a short epistle. I shall perhaps be twitted with 
the gate of Mindus^ and be told that it is wider than 
the city. As Tygranis said in derision of the Roman 
forces under Lucullus — c This is too little for an army, 
and too much for an embass \ — this is too little for a life, 
and too much for an epistle.' . . • . 

" Let me take up with that allusion of the bishop of 
Winchester^ Dr. White^ who preach't Queen Marye's 
Funeral Sermon \ wherein, comparing her with her un- 
paralleled successor, Queen Elizabeth , he gave the latter 
a few cold faint praises. c But yet/ said he, c (according 
to my text), / commend the dead rather than the livings 
and it will alwayes be true^ Mary hath chosen the better 
part. 9 Sir, I may confidently say the same of this our 



io6 



ALLEINE'S SETTLEMENT. 



eminently gracious Lady Mary, and with far greater 
truth than he, as he applyed it : the better part she chose, 
and the better part she hath, yea, more than the better 
part. She is dissolved, and is with Christ, which is best of 
all. And, though the latter days in which she liv'd were 
rough and boysterous, she dyed in peace, and in a time of 
peace. For, in a lucid interval, when all was husht, she 
stole away into the place of silence. She was not gathered 
by a wanton hand, nor blown down by a furious wind 
while she was green, but being fully ripe, she dropt 
away. Fragrant and sweet she is, now she is but 
newly fallen \ but she will be sweeter yet, when she is 
mellowed. 

" Sir, you are happy beyond many others of your rank, 
that you had two such worthy patternes. I beseech you 
eye them well, and follow them as closely and exa£lly as 
you can. So live, and so walk, according to the faith 
and holynesse which you have seen exemplified in your 
excellent parents, that you may meet them in the great 
day of account, with joy, and not with grief That you 
may stand on the same hand of Jesus Christ at the time 
of separation, and sit on the same throne to judge the 
world, with them and others of the saints, and not to be 
judged by them. O, what a sad thing would it be 
if, while your parents, both of them, are sitting on the 
bench, you should be standing at the bar ! And if you 
should be judged and condemned by them, though but 
(as some expound that place of the Apostle Paul) by their 
example. Let this consideration quicken you to walke 
as they walked, and to be a follower of them as they were 
of Christ ; that keeping on the way wherein they went, 
you may at length attain to the place where they are. 
And when you also come to dye, you may sleep with your 



ALLEINES SETTLEMENT. 



IO7 



fathers, and be gathered to your fathers ; your body to the 
same earth, and your soul to the same heaven."* 



* From the epistle dedicatory to a sermon entitled " Magna Charta : 
or, the Christian's Charter Epitomized, in a Sermon preached at the 
Funerall of the Right Worshipfull the Lady Mary Farewell, at Hill- 
Bishops, near Taunton, by Geo. Newton, minister of the Gospel 
there. 

D. FareweLL obllt Maria saLVtls In anno 
Hos annos posltos VIXIt et Ipsa VaLe." 

This sermon is now so rare, that I have not been able to meet with 
a copy, and the above extracts are from a MS. lent by the Rev. William 
Arthur Jones, who is, by marriage, one of the representatives of the 
old Farewell family. To this gentleman, also, I am under obliga- 
tions for other instances of kind assistance in research. 



Chapter VI. 



Wiovtss anti OTapss of tfee East puritans. 

" Although they <were not understood, 
Yet from their spirit and their blood 
Did flow a fair and fertile flood 
Of thoughts and deeds both great and good" 

THOMAS JORDAN. 1 645. 



O men have been more maligned and 
less understood than those who were 
historically the last Puritans and the 
first Dissenters. Their closing days 
were so vexed with the necessities of conflict, flight, 
and melancholy change, that they had little time 
or inclination to write about themselves. The 
popular knowledge of their principles has often 
been drawn from the writings of men whose esti- 
mate of them was only as the estimate of Raphael 
by a blind critic, or of Newton by his dog 
Diamond. Victorious enemies were their first 
historians, — and cc when the man, and not the lion 
was thus the painter," it was easy to foretel with 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. IO9 



what party all the virtues, and all the nobilities 
would be found. It becomes our duty to look 
into our old family cabinets and libraries, and from 
the moth-eaten letters and tra&s of our fathers to 
find out what manner of men they really were, how 
they used to spend a day, whether they did the 
eccentric things imputed to them, and if so, why. 
From such sources let us seek to know what were 
the opinions and manners that prevailed at Taunton 
when Alleine was there, and while Puritanism was 
putting forth some of its later forms. At that 
period there was scarcely a town in England where 
those forms were more broadly reflected. 

You haVe before been reminded, that the radical 
principle of Puritanism was cc reverence for the 
stridl letter of the Scripture, as God's diredt mes- 
sage to each individual man, and as forming our 
sole, final and absolute authority in religion." 
We may obje6l to some applications that were 
made of this dodrine. We may think that the 
Bible is intended to rule us chiefly by its evange- 
lical revelations, which, operating in the heart by 
the power of the Holy Spirit, become the regu- 
lating forces of the life, adjusting themselves, few 
and simple as they are, to the ever-changing con- 
ditions of the outward state; but many devout 
scripturists betrayed a tendency to regard the legis- 
lation of the Bible as proceeding on the system of 
a precise rule for a precise question, something like 



HO WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



that of the Mussulman code, with its 75,000 spe- 
cial precepts. They were unquestionably right . in 
the respedt they paid to the plainly stated laws and 
precedents of Scripture ; but in attempting to find 
laws and precedents to govern every minute and 
particular aftion, they were often mistaken in 
thinking they had found what they sought, and 
were often in needless bondage. Still, with all 
their faults, cc the Bible, and the Bible alone, was 
the religion " of the Puritans; and their very faults 
grew out of this principle misunderstood, or mis- 
applied. Now, look at some of its every-day 
workings, as it was understood by the people of 
Taunton. 

They, and those of like faith elsewhere, never 
called their ministers^ in distinction from other 
Christians , cc priests" or cc clergymen" fC A 
priest," said one, whom they held in high esteem, 
ff importeth a sacrifice." * In their opinion, the 
only sacrifices accepted under the Gospel are 
the sacrifices offered by all believers ; so, amongst 
the followers of Christ, the people are the priests. 
— 1 Peter ii. 5. "Clergyman," was also a term 
which, if used by them at all, would, by the same 
Scripture rule, have had the same wide meaning. 
fC Poor men !" said one of their writers, speaking of 
the Episcopalian ministers in reference to the mem- 



Latimer. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. Ill 



bers of their communion, cc are you the clergy, and 
not they ? Read i Peter v. 3 : c Not as lords 
over God's clergy/ ( kXti^p). Are they the laity, 
and not you? Read Romans ix. 25 : c I will call 
them my laity/ (\a6v /i™)." * Out of such inter- 
pretations of texts relating to the priesthood 
sprang that dislike of priestly vestments, which 
sometimes startles us by its extravagance. Mitre, 
crosier, cap, hood, surplice, were all denounced as 
" instruments of a foolish shepherd/' only because 
they were the symbols of a priestly caste, j- 

They had no fixed forms of 'prayer ', because it was 
said the Scriptures have prescribed none ; and we 
have already seen that in their view there was no 
other prescribing authority in existence. When 
two colledls were printed and recommended to be 
read in churches, one on cc the horrid decollation of 
King Charles the First/' and the other on the 
Restoration, Alleine had resolved to read them, but 
owing to the strong opposition that was excited, 
felt it prudent to desist. 

They observed no saints' days, because the Scrip- 
tures appointed none ; but many were their days 
of special religious solemnity, because this was 
the custom of inspired men, and what they did as 
well as what they said from the afflatus of inspira- 
tion, was viewed as having the authority of law. 



* Preface to Henry Jessey's Life, 1672. f Vavasor Powel. 



112 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



For example, they observed many fasts, including 
the monthly fast appointed by Parliament during 
the unsettled state of the nation; and many festi- 
vals, such as the day of rejoicing to commemorate 
the happy close of their siege. On such occasions, 
the people met early in their own houses to pray,* 
and then crowded to the church. Days of private 
thanksgiving or fasting were also kept; and on one 
of these days, George Trosse, a gentleman com- 
moner of Pembroke College, who was often at 
Taunton, is said to have spent eleven hours upon 
his knees. j- 

They observed no rites and ceremonies^ but such 
as were appointed by the plain decrees of the New 
Testament. As might be expected, the ministry 
of ceremonies was displaced by the ministry of the 
Word. This led to the sin of long sermons, of 
which the critics of Puritanism complain so loudly. 
Yet it should be admitted that this was not 
exclusively a Puritan habit, but a fashion of the 
times, of which all Protestant seds were guilty. 
Alleine sometimes preached for two hours, but 
Isaac Barrow has kept his patients three hours and 
a-half. The young people were sometimes warned 
against regarding the sermon as a cf meer pass- 
time." 

There was no organ allowed at St. Mary's 



* Oliver Heywood, MS. f Haliet's Funeral Sermon for Trosse. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I 1 3 



Church. The reason for this may be given in the 
language of a Puritan doftor : — Cf There is not one 
word of institution in the New Testament for 
instrumental musique in the worship of God ; and 
because the holy God rejedls all that He doth not 
command in His worship, He now, therefore, in 
effedt, says to us, c I will not hear the melody of 
thine organs/"* Vocal music they cultivated, 
because they had distinct New Testament authority 
for it, and the fame of the psalmody in Taunton 
Church rang far and wide.' 

They had no religious reverence for the mere 
building in which worship was offered. A per- 
son entering the church while Mr. Alleine was 
preaching, would see every man there keeping 
his steeple-hat on. The old "Mercuries" men- 
tion it. Many devout people were scandalised 
by it. When Colonel Turner, a gallant Cavalier, 
was hanged for burglary, he told the crowd 
gathered round the gallows that his mind derived 
great consolation from the thought that he "had 
always taken his hat off when he went into a 
church ;" but to whatever extremity the Puritan 
might be brought, he had no such consolation in 
reserve. "Some holy Nonconformists I have known," 
says Mr. Baxter, cc that would rarely mention 
God but with their hats put off, or bowing down 



* Cotton Mather. 
I 



114 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



their heads, and it hath often affeded me more 
than a sermon."* Yet the sight of these holy men 
at church would have alarmed the religious sensi- 
bilities of Colonel Turner, for they would certainly 
have worn their hats while listening to the minister ; 
though, when he commenced prayer, they would 
have uncovered. How was it ? In those days, 
let it be understood, wearing the hat in-doors was 
an ordinary habit, and the lords on whom Mr. 
Pepys bowed attendance never thought it implied 
discourtesy to do so even at the dinner table; 
but actually taking it off with reference to any- 
thing religious was thought to imply worship, — 
taking it off at church, merely because it was a 
church, was thought to imply worship to the mere 
building. These precisians only meant to show 
their reverence for the Scriptures, and to utter their 
protest against the notion of specially consecrated 
ground, because they believed the Scriptures had 
declared it to be abolished. f Right or wrong, 



* Baxter against Schism, Part II., p. 8, 1684. An Enquiry on 
a Question relating to Divine Worship 5 by Samuel Stoddon, 1682. 
61 Though I am against superstitions, I am against putting on your 
hats in prayer." Mr. Jenkin's Farewell Sermons, 4to., 1662. In the 
second volume of Farewell Sermons, 8vo., 1663, there is an engraving 
showing a minister addressing a hatted congregation. 

\ John iv. 21. The Nonconformists also said that Christians 
had a church in the house, as well as in the public building ,• that 
a£h of worship belonged to the one place as to the other 5 that the 
places, therefore, had equal sacredness. — Rom. xvi. 5 5 Philemon. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I I £ 



they only a6led in this respect like the first reformers 
of the church of England, whose true successors 
and living representatives they were. In a rare old 
book by Archbishop Parker, there is a wood-cut 
representing that prelate preaching to a congrega- 
tion of men all sitting with their hats on.* 

They looked with no favour on any kind of symboli- 
cal beauty of form or colour in the structure or 
adornment of the churches. In Mr. Newton's 
time, the glories of the stained windows, in which 
the monks had taken so much pride, were nearly 
all destroyed ; and those windows, to use the 
language of the times, Cf were beautified with white 
and bright glasse."f Such Gothic destruftiveness 
arose out of a misapplied scripturism. One motive 
to it was the sense the iconoclasts attached to such 
instructions as are contained in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, which, as they understood them, taught 
that the religion of Solomon's Temple, with its 
types, emblems, and rich material splendours, was 
now fulfilled in the fadts of the Gospel, and super- 
seded by a system of spiritual worship, which such 
symbols would only hinder and becloud. Another 



* De Antiquitate Britannia? Ecclesiae et Priviligiis Ecclesiae 
Cantuariensis cum Archiepiscopis Eiusdem. 70, an. dom. 1572, 
folio Only twenty-one copies are known. 

f Expression used by Samuel Hinde to set forth how John Bruen, of 
Bruen Stapleford, Esquire, reformed the Popish window of his family 
chapel. Life of Bruen. 1641. 

I 2 



1 1 6 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



motive, still more strongly felt, was their intense 
hatred of all things that might lead to Romanism. 
They looked on such things just as the primitive 
Christians looked on the relics of classic art, without 
a thought of the genius they might display, but 
only of the superstition they might foster, and 
therefore gave them over to ruin or negle6t. Here, 
again, they did but follow the steps of the first 
Anglican reformers. Few amongst them would or 
could have carried these principles further than was 
taught in the homily cc Against peril of Idolatry, 
and superfluous decking of Churches." " My little 
children, saith St. John, deeply considering the 
matter, keep yourselves from images, or idolls. 
He saith not now, keep yourselves from idolatry, 
as it were from the service and worshipping of 
them, but from the very shape and likeness of 
them .... think you, the persons who place 
images or idolls in churches and temples, take good 
heed to St. John's counsel ?" Thus, in many pas- 
sages, wrote the homilist, Bishop Jewell. It was 
natural, under the circumstances, that such prin- 
ciples should by many be adopted without intelli- 
gence, and carried out without discrimination. This, 
therefore, led through the next century to the 
destruction in churches, not only of religious 
images, but of many a noble work of art besides, 
in glass, wood, and stone. Let us, however, be 
fair to the Puritans, Many of the disfigurements 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. II J 



of churches that are assigned to the period of the 
Commonwealth, belong in reality to the period of 
the Reformation ;* many others were wrought for 
which no religious party is accountable, but which 
were the reckless deeds of rioters, in the time 
of civil war ; and in all cases where works of 
art not Romanistic in their design were shattered, 
it was in direft violation of the very ordinance for 
the removal of Popish badges, in which it was 
specified, " This ordinance shall not extend to any 
image, picture, or coat of arms, in glass, stone, or 
otherwise, in any church, chapel, or churchyard, 
set up by or engraven for a monument of, any 
king, prince, nobleman, or other dead person, which 
has not commonly been reputed or taken for a 

saint." t 

It must not be denied that serious evils were 
developed under the reign of the Puritans, There 
was much intolerance, and at the same time there was 
much division in the church. Both sprang from a 
harsh and mistaken application of their primary doc- 
trine — that the laws of religion, and all that belongs 
to it, must be taken from the written Word alone. 
Spending their strength in attention to the letter of 
the Scripture, they were apt to overlook the spirit of 



* Archaeological Journal, vol. ii., p. 244. Godwin on Ely Cathe- 
dral. Catalogue of Bishops, 1601. Weaver's Monumental 
Antiq., p. 18. 

f Husband's Collections, p. 307. 



I I 8 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



the Scripture ; giving all possible emphasis to its 
truth, they were in danger of slighting its charity — 
yet both are equally divine. The first result was 
intolerance. cc We have undoubtedly found in the 
Bible/' thought they, cc certain great truths, and a 
certain scheme of church order ; then for a man to 
question those truths, or to deviate from this order, 
is not so much a sin against us, as a sin against 
God." cf Polupiety, is Impiety."* The next 
result was division. All history shows that what- 
ever among an intelligent people demands religious 
uniformity, does, in the same degree, raise the 
spirit of discord. Amongst the Puritans, not only 
was this spirit of discord sometimes rampant as the 
effed of such intolerance, but as the effedl of the 
reception and consequent perversion by intolerant 
minds of another article of the Puritan creed, 
namely, that the Bible being God's message to every 
individual man, every man has a right to judge of 
its meaning for himself. The article itself is glo- 
riously true and important, but it is easy to see 
that its operation in the hands of intolerant men, 
exasperated by the intolerance of others, would 
lead to much division, not only in faith, but in 
feeling. One consequence was, that during the 
Commonwealth a wonderful number of new se&s 
shot into consequence, some of them having strange 



* Edwards. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I I 9 



and wonderful names, to which, perhaps, the 
Royalist, Dr. Beaumont, has a sly allusion in his 
catalogue of heresies, filling twenty-nine lines with 
words like these : — 

" Tertullianists, Arabics, Symmachists, 
Homousiasts, Elxites, Origenians, 
Valesians, Agrippinians, Catharists, 
Hydroparastates, Patripassians, 

Apostolics, Angelics, Chiliasts, 

Somosatenian Paulianists. ,, * 

We think that the cure for religious division is 
not renouncing the Biblical do&rine of the Puritans, 
but keeping it in the spirit of Christ. Many did 
thus keep it, as we shall presently see ; many more 
were more generous in practice than in theory ; but 
the true nature of Christian liberty had yet to be 
learned. 

Sometimes this intolerance took the form of 
church discipline. fc Wondrous narrow " were the 
laws of the churches, and very harsh was the occa- 
sional dealing with offenders, thereby provoking 
harsh recrimination. A few years after his settle- 



* Ephraim Pagitt, in his Heresiography, describes between forty 
and fifty seels. Another writer, evidently a more moderate man, 
w r rote a pamphlet with the following title, " A Discovery of Twenty- 
nine Sects here in London, all of which, except the first, are most 
divellish and damnable, 1 ' — Guildhall Library. 

Edwards gives a list of 180 flagrant heresies 5 Baxter has also left 
a doleful catalogue j Ford, Vicars, and Featley have given equally 
wonderful reports ; but the witnesses do not agree, and all make 
very foolish distinctions. 



I 20 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



ment, Mr. Alleine was much disturbed by an 
instance of this kind, in which some of his relatives 
were affe&ed. Cousin Tobie Alleine, with his 
wife, Mistress Marie, were both Presbyterians at 
Exeter. Mr. Lewis Stuckley, a gentleman of 
ancient and knightly family, and one of the preachers 
in the choir of the cathedral, was an Independent. 
They went to Cf behold his Gospel order ;" and in 
the course of time joined his church. Gradually 
they saw many things which they disapproved, be- 
came irregular in attendance, and at last went back 
with all repentance to their old pastor, Mr. Mark 
Downes. They were therefore excommunicated 
by the Independents ; and Mrs. Marie, a lady of 
uncertain temper and much velocity of speech, was 
cc delivered over unto Satan." Then came forth a 
pamphlet, bearing the tremendous title, cc Truths 
Manifest ; or a Full and Faithfull Narrative of all 
passages relating to the Excommunication of Mrs. 
Marie Alleine, lately delivered over unto Satan by 
Mr. Lewis Stuckley and his Church at Exon ; with 
a Brief Answer to Mr. Stuckley's Sermon." 8vo., 
1658. This was followed by f c Diotrephes, detected, 
corre&ed, and rejefted; and Archippus admonished 
by a soft Answer to an angry Sermon and Book." 
After that appeared "Truths Manifest Revived."* 
A testimony to Mr. Tobie' s <f good name and 



These pamphlets are in the Bodleian Library. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 121 



reputation " was published, and signed by the 
sheriff, the mayor, and twenty-five aldermen and 
burgesses; but although he and his wife were 
treated in a way most inquisitorial and severe, his 
condudt in the affair does not appear to have been 
without blame, and his spirit through the contro- 
versy is certainly not to his credit. These matters 
may seem to some to be trivial as the politics of a 
rookery, but they are given here as specimens of 
the unseemly confusion that might occasionally 
occur under the dynasty of the Puritans, and from 
a wish to be perfe&ly fair in sketching their man- 
ners, both bad and good. 

It is now time to turn from the churches, that 
we may diredt our thoughts to the social life of the 
first Nonconformists. You will there find that, 
of many grotesque things imputed to them, some 
were the pure inventions of festive malice, and 
that others lose their look of absurdity when truly 
understood. You exped: to see the immortal 
oddities of Hudibras start up before you ; you 
expefc to meet half-gloomy, half-comic wonders, at 
every step of your inquiry ; at the very beginning 
you expe6t, at least, to find that George Newton's 
people have outlandish names, such as Kill-sin 
Pimple, or Weep-not Billings, for all the historians 
from Hume to Macaulay have told you that 
this was the fashion. They all appear to have been 
mistaken. It may be allowed that names remotely 



122 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



like these, because formed out of a religious dialed:, 
were occasionally given by the settlers in Mas- 
sachusetts to their children, and that a very few 
might also have been given to children in England ; 
it must be asserted, however, that where they were 
in use, they were always imposed in infancy, and 
never selefted by the parties themselves* Please 
to remember, that if such names were worn by the 
men and women of the Protectorate, they had been 
conferred upon them at the font in the reign of the 
British Solomon. We have ample evidence that 
the habit was occasional then, but it really seems to 
have declined by the time of which we are writing. 
If existent anywhere, it surely might have been 
expe&ed in the place where those charged with 
adopting it had their stronghold ; but not one such 
name is to be found in the copious Taunton 
register of that date, and not one in all the nume- 
rous parochial registers of the same era which the 
present writer has examined.* 

Imagine yourself leaving Taunton Church on 
some thanksgiving-day, and walking with a grave 
burgher to his home. Take notes of what you 
see. His life there, just as much as in public 



* Confirmation of these statements will be found in Camden's 
Remains, p. 42, 16295 Harris's Cromwell, p. 342; and Lower 
on English Surnames. This writer gives instances of such names 
from a Sussex jury list, which he assigns to about the year 1610, and 
from the parochial register of Warbleton, 16 17. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I 2$ 



worship, is ruled by Scripture texts. Texts are 
woven into all his conversation, for the language 
of the Bible is with him the language of common 
life ; he applies it to everything, and uses it most, 
not as you might suppose, when most artificial, 
but when most in earnest. Looking round, you 
see texts painted on the doors and over the fire- 
places, stamped on kettles and skillets, wrought 
in garments, and even carved on the wooden cradle 
in the corner where the child lies asleep. A 
Nonconformist, who was young in Oliver's time, 
after praising his father for great care in the 
religious instruction of his children, adds, cc Let 
those Scriptures upon the chimney-stone in the 
parlour be witness."* There were thirteen texts 
there. In a few cases, as might have been expected, 
satirists wrote merrily about this Puritan use of 
texts, especially on their appearance in the ladies' 
embroideries. A personage in one of the comedies 
is represented as saying — 

" Nay, Sir, she is a Puritan at her needle too : 
She works religious petticoats $ for flowers, 
She'll make church-histories j besides, 
My sleeves have such holy embroideries, 
And are so learned, that I fear in time 
All my apparel will be quoted by some pure instructor." f 

In one of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays we read 



* Life of John Machin, p. 19. f Jasper Mayne's City Match. 



I 24 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



of cc a neat historical shirt. *" From such passages 
it appears that the custom was of earlier origin 
than the period of the Commonwealth, although 
it was then in the height of its observance. 

You are not to infer from all this, that your 
burgher friend leads a life of holy dulness or 
illiteracy on account of his biblical notions. Why 
should he ? He enjoys a recreative hour as freely 
as any other man, thinking it lawful, however, not 
so much because it is natural, as because he can 
show you chapter and verse for it. cc Recreation," 
he will say, cc is an exercise joined with the fear 
of God, conversant with things indifferent, for the 
preservation of bodily strength and the confirmation 
of the mind in holiness. To this end hath the 
Word of God permitted shooting (2 Sam. i. 18); 
musical consort (Neh. vii. 67) ; putting forth 
riddles (Judges xiv. 1 2) ; hunting of wild beasts 



* Beaumont and Fletcher's Custom of the Court. The statements 
given above are supported by the traditions and relics of three or 
four Nonconformist families known to the author, in the west of 
England. One venerable member of his former congregation, a 
gentleman who lived to the age of ninety-four, used to tell of a 
ramble he had when a boy over the old house of a Nonconformist 
baronet, which was printed over in this way ; and he remembered 
how his youthful mind was impressed by an inscription in the 
dormitory anciently used by the handmaidens of the family, and 
which was intended to strike the eye the first thing in the morn- 
ing, — " Arise, ye women y* are at ease." It is a wonder that 
the witty enemies of the Nonconformists have not made more of 
these things. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I 25 



(Cant. ii. 15) ; searching out, or the contemplation 
of, the works of God (i Kings iv. 33)."* 

You find him almost insensible to the beautiful or 
awful in art ; but not so much from religious 
scruples, as from strong religious excitement, and 
the effedt of distradling war. In time of war, 
the best man thinks more of the forces that ensure 
protection than of the graces that decorate repose. 
He is more likely to be occupied in barring his 
gate, than in training the rose that clusters over it.f 

On the same account you will find him indifferent 
to written poetry. You are not likely to see a new 
poem in his house. We are told, it is true, that 
in the houses of a certain western town — 

" Poems were pasted up on every hall 
As thick and thin as cobwebs on the wall : — 

Here you might view Haman in all his pride, 
And, like a rogue, hanged and then dittified. 
Each kitchen, parlour, chamber, were all drest here 
With Samson, Joseph, Daniel, or Queen Hester." J 

But this was a local accident, — these were the 
effusions of an inspired parish clerk ; and Nathaniel 
Miers, <c the clarke that did the christenings w § 
in Mr. Newton's absence, was not inspired. If, 
in any of the houses at Taunton in the time of 
the Commonwealth, you saw amongst the broad 
sheets on the wall, one that was covered over with 



* Master Perkins. f Wilmott. 

J Batt upon Batt : a Poem. 1680. § Register of Mary Magdalen. 



I 26 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



what at the distance of a few yards looked like 
poetry, a nearer approach would show you that 
it certainly had not been selected for its poetical 
merit. We owe most of our written poetry to the 
remembrance in peace of past excitement ; but the 
crisis of excitement is not itself the season when 
poetry is most likely to be written or read. The 
lives of the Puritans were often instinct with the 
very soul of poetry ; only, cc instead of singing it 
like birds, they afted it like men."* Poetical 
authorship was next to impossible amidst their 
trials ; yet, even in this respedt, they were not 
deficient in comparison with their opponents. They 
had, at least, George Wither, John Milton, and 
ff the glorious dreamer," John Bunyan. 

After the noon-day meal, your host confesses to 
you his delight in goodly music, and quotes in sup- 
port of his views, the saying of one of his ministers: 
cc Of all beastes, saith iElian, there is none that 
delighteth not in harmony, save only the asse ; 
strange would it be for men to love it not." Sing- 
ing begins, and, perhaps, to the accompaniment of 
the lute : but, although playing on the lute is men- 
tioned by Alleine with approval, it was a question 
with some of his neighbours whether they ought to 
conform so far to the habits of the ungodly. At 
a meeting which the members of the Baptist church 



* Kingsley on Plays and Puritans. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I 2J 



at Taunton held with the members of sister churches 
at the Bridgewater Association in 1655, the ques- 
tion was proposed, cc Whether a believing man or 
woman, being head of a • family in this day of the 
Gospell, may keep in his or her house an instru- 
ment or instruments of musique, playing on them, 
or admitting others to play thereon ?" The answer 
was, cc It is the duty of the saints to abstain from 
all appearance of evil, and not to make provision 
for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof, to redeem 
the time, and to do all to the glory of God ; and 
though we cannot consider the uses of such instru- 
ments to be unlawful, yet we desire the saints to be 
very cautious lest they transgress the aforesaid rules 
in the use of it, and do that which may not be of 
good report, and so give offence to their tender 
brethren."* Keeping the "aforesaid rules" in 
mind, your friend will venture to use the lute, and 
invite you to join in a song, not, however, one of 
the songs of this world. (When you have time, if 
you have courage, look into one of the Roxburgh 
or Luttrell Collections of Songs of the Seventeenth 
Century, preserved in the British Museum, and you 
will soon see the reason.) Since all the living 
literature of music was too tainted for the pure to 
use, he gives out a canticle from a little black 
volume, called cc The Booke of Psalmes ; close and 



* Baptist Church Book, Lyme Regis. 



128 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



proper to the Hebrew ; smooth and pleasant for 
the Metre ; plain and easy to the Tunes. By 
W. B., 1654." Out of this book, Alleine and his 
family were accustomed to sing after dinner, though 
sometimes he would substitute the TV Deum, which 
he much rejoiced in ; and it was said, when he pro- 
nounced the sentence, cc The noble army of martyrs 
praise thee/' it was always with cc a certain exaltation." 

You will find your companion severe in his 
notions as to simplicity in dress. When a Somerset- 
shire lad came home one day, in a coat broidered 
with broad gold lace, his mother in great alarm cut 
it all away, and he himself afterwards remembered 
his f c vaine apparel " with great anguish, saying, 
" My buttons, gold, and the silk on my sleeves 
lay on my conscience, a burden weighty as a 
world."* Some of the elders of the people, while 
they held grave opinions about adornment in 
cc gold, pearls, and costly array," expressed those 
opinions to the weaker brethren with edifying 
moderation, desiring that €C they should be pro- 
ceeded against with all sweetness, and tenderness, 
and long-suffering, it being not so clearly and 
generally understood as other things that are more 
contrary to the light of nature. "f After all, the 



* Life of Trosse. 

f Papers of Western Association of Baptist Churches in 1655. — 
Baptist College Library, Bristol. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. I 29 



standard of dress adopted by the Puritan would 
more closely approximate to modern laws of taste 
and propriety than would that of the Cavalier, with his 
silks, feathers, laces, and gaudy streamers of ribbon. 

Your friend exacts from his family the most 
stricft respeft to the injunction, "be not conformed to 
this world"* But knowing what was meant by 
Cf the world," in the life of any one of the Stuarts, you 
are not surprised. If those gallants the fC bright 
exhalations of knighthood " — so often placed 
by Sir Walter Scott in enchanting contrast to the 
rude and gloomy Puritans — were walking the earth 
now, you would not call them gentlemen, nor wish 
to see them at your table. Of course we are speak- 
ing not of exceptions on either side, but of the 
average Puritan and the average Cavalier. 

In the evening, you leave the burgher's house to 
take a view of life among the poorer classes. You 
hear the music of family praise floating through 
many a stone-shafted lattice as you pass along 
the streets. It used to be so even in London,f 



* We must hope that extreme measures to secure family order 
were not often resorted to 5 but in one of Mr. Newton's books there 
is a publisher's list, which announces an interesting new work 
with the following title : " The Husband's Authority Unveiled 5 
wherein is moderately discussed whether or no it be lawful for a 
good man to beat his bad wife." 

f " Time was when one could not have come through the streets 
of London, even on a week-day, but we might hear the praises of 
God, in singing of psalms." — Mr. Case, 1663. 

K 



I30 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



but more especially in the better instrudled provin- 
cial towns." At last, you enter the cottage of a 
labourer. Pasted upon the wall are various folio 
sheets, with such titles as these : — cc Old Mr. Dod's 
Sayings ; " — cc Another Posie out of Mr. Dod's 
Garden ;" — Cf Plain Directions for the more profit- 
able hearing of the Word/' by Joseph Caryl ; — 
fc Memorables concerning our life before God, by 
one desirous of Poor Folks' Salvation;"— "Sayings, 
&c, which may bepasted on aMan's Chamber-door 
for a Memoriall." In the place meant to be most 
public and honourable, there is a sheet, broad as a 
leaf of the Times (you are not to forget the nine- 
teenth century), bearing the title, " Mr. Joseph 
Alleine's Directions for covenanting with God : 
also, Rules for a Christian's Daily Self-examination. "f 
A few godly books lie on a shelf near the window. 

If you have been much in Puritan company, 
you must have learned that, although no large 
Society was at that time in existence for the dif- 
fusion of religious knowledge amongst the poor, 
sheets and books for this purpose were often dis- 
tributed privately, or by concert of two or three 



* Baxter says of Kidderminster, " You might hear a hundred 
families singing psalms and repeating sermons as you passed through 
the streets/' And this, he elsewhere tells us, was not an uncommon 
thing in other towns. 

f British Museum. The Rev. John Wesley afterwards issued an 
abridged publication of these " Directions," giving them high praise. 



WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 1 3 I 



persons, to the extent of hundreds of thousands. 
When, for instance, Alleine's treatise on conversion 
came out, a Nonconformist minister proposed that 
an edition should be printed for gratuitous cir- 
culation, and immediately paid down £50 to- 
wards the cost. Others joined him, and the result 
was, that an impression of 20,000 was dispersed 
without sale, and another impression was, by the 
same method, sold under rate.* In these ways, 
together with the system of catechising, on which 
so much stress was placed in those days, the poorer 
people were remarkable for their religious intelli- 
gence. The poor man, into whose cottage your 
spirit is now glancing, is ready to open a dialogue 
with you like one of those reported in the fc Pil- 
grim's Progress." 

If you wish to see what Puritan life was like in 
cc the high places," go with Mr. Alleine and his 
brother Norman to spend an evening with Admiral 
Blake at his country-house at Knowle, two miles 
from Bridgewater. Suppose it to be during the 
period of his brief visit to England in 1656. Sup- 
pose his friend Colonel Hutchinson to be staying 
there. There would be a simple meal, — the Bible 
would be brought in, — there would be prayer, — 
there would be conversation such as Christians 



* Life and Funerall Sermon of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Brand, 
M.A., by Dr. Samuel Annerly, 1692. 

K 2 



2 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



love, and which they can only have when in "their 
own company ;" — there would probably be discourse, 
in logical forms, on some of the mysteries of Chris- 
tian truth, — of course there would be reasonings 
over some cc case of conscience ;" — Mr. Newton 
would be apt to get prosy in discussing the opinions 
of Fragosa, Tolet, Sayrus, and Roderiques ; — then 
there would be a flow of graceful and varied talk, 
not only on politics, but on books, pidtures, gar- 
dening, or the last scientific experiments of the 
Oxford Society, — and the great sailor, who had so 
often made the Dutch tremble at his sublime 
audacity, cc would affedl a droll concern to prove 
before the ministers, by the aptness and abundance 
of his Latin quotations, that in becoming an 
admiral, he had not forfeited his claim to be con- 
sidered a good classic/'* You could not find 
better types of the winning yet stately Christian 
gentleman, than amongst the Puritans. 

They had amongst them men of narrow and 
negative opinions ; men of vehement, disputatious 
independence ; men who had no love for the lovely 
in the works of God or man, and who were accus- 
tomed to think that in the exercises of religion the 
eye and the ear were only in the way ; men who 
seldom relaxed the stern strain of the faculties 
which the exigencies of their day demanded, and who 



* Hepworth Dixon's Life of Blake, p. 267. 



WORDS AND WAYS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 1 33 

therefore made Christianity look forbidding. They 
were often joined by men who though with, were 
not of them, and who only misrepresented them 
to the world ; who put religiosity in place of religion, 
and displayed a false Puritanism, cc as like and as 
unlike the true, as hemlock is to parsley ;" men to 
whom plain, downright Lewis Stuckley said, when 
referring to the signs over the tradesmen's doors, 
<c You have glorious signs, but ill customs ; an angel 
for a sign here, a lamb for a sign there, but within 
devils and cheats/'* Still, the true principles of 
Puritanism were favourable to strength and refine- 
ment of character, to domestic purity and love, and 
to all kinds of commercial prosperity. While they 
were ascendant, cc there was scarcely an instance of 
bankruptcy heard of in a year."f ff Many places," 
remarks Baxter, when writing of Alleine, cc were 
so seasoned by the great abilities and holy lives of 
their pastors, the great market-towns have become 
as religious as the selected members which some 
think only fit for churches." cc In those years, 
between forty and sixty," Philip Henry testifies, 
"though on civil accounts f the foundations were 
out of course,' yet, in the matters of God's worship, 
things went well ; there was freedom and reforma- 
tion, and a face of godliness was upon the nation, 
though there were some that made a mask of it. 



* Gospel Looking-Glasse. f Neale's History, vol. iii., p. 46. 



134 WORDS AND WATS OF THE LAST PURITANS. 



. . This, we know very well, let men say 
what they will of those times."* 

A clear conception, it is hoped, may now be 
formed of the people among whom Alleine laboured, 
whom he used to call cc loving and most endeared 
Christians," and whose excellencies so won his 
heart, that in his long last illness he used to say, 
Cf If I should die fifty miles away, let me be 
buried at Taunton." 



# Life of Philip Henry, by Sir J. B. Williams, p. 89. 



Chapter VII. 
aileme in t&c ^ati&atb of Jus life. 

" A Fathers tenderness, a Shepherd's care, 
A Leaders courage, which the cross can bear, 
A Ruler s awe, a Watchman 's wakeful eye, 
A Pilofs skill, the helm in storms to fly, 
A Fisher 's patience, and a Labourers toil, 
A Guide 's dexterity to disembroil, 
An Intercessors unclion from above, 
A Teachers knowledge, and a Saviours love." 

BISHOP KEN. 

ABBI JOSE BAR JEHUDAH once 
gave this decision : — cc He that learneth 
of young men, is like a man that eateth 
unripe grapes, or that drinketh wine out 
of the wine-press ; but he that learneth of the ancient, 
is like a man that eateth ripe grapes, and drinketh 
wine that is old." Such, at first, was the spirit of the 
comparisons drawn between the old and the young 
minister, by many a little group of critics that stood 
about in the churchyard after service ; but gradually 
such murmurs were hushed, and awe-struck crowds 
walked home in silence. 




I36 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



cc This young Timothy was, at his first entrance 
on his ministry, despised for his youth, by those 
who after with shame confessed their errour, and 
deplored their rashness, resolving after for his sake 
no more to judge according to appearance, but to 
honour for their work, and intrinsick worth, those 
whom age hath not made venerable."* 

His composition was slovenly. He never 
studied the art of casting thought into form ; never 
uttered language that was stately, periodic, or deli- 
cately musical ; and never, unless by mere chance, 
used words lit up with secondary or imaginative 
meanings ; yet we should always remember, when 
reading sermons preached by him and his brethren 
to Puritan congregations, that many things in the 
matter which are to us truisms, were to them start- 
ling truths ; and that much of the style which 
may seem to us tiresome and common, was not felt 
to be so then. Long familiar use of such language 
in the pulpit has worn away the freshness and 
sharpness of its figurative stamp, but it was then 
vivid and poetical, not because the speaker cared to 
make it so, but because he was so full of life that 
he could not help it. He would have disdained 
to care about it. cc The King's business re- 
quireth haste," was his constant feeling, and he 
could not stay to study the stru&ure of sentences 



* Mr. Newton. 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



137 



while dying men were waiting for the word of 
life. Had the young preacher at St. Mary's been 
advised to think more of verbal refinement, he would 
probably have replied in language like that of John 
Owen, cf Know that you have to do with a person, 
who, provided his words do but express the senti- 
ments of his mind, entertains a fixed and absolute 
disregard for all elegance and ornaments of speech." 
His addresses had far higher elements of excellence. 
They all breathed a winning tenderness, and all 
revealed an amazing power of rapid, homely, shat- 
tering appeal. The thoughts were all impetuous 
with a rush of fresh and glowing life; and though 
there was the prophet's rough mantle, there was 
also his chariot of fire. Every meaning was clear, 
every stroke told, every gesture seemed to speak, — 
vividus vultuSy vividi oculi, vividte manus> denique 
omnia vivida. One of his hearers tells us that 
Cf he never preached without a long expostulation 
with the impenitent, vehemently urging them to 
come to some good resolve before he and they 
parted, and to make their choice for life or death, ex- 
pressing his great unwillingness to leave the subjed, 
till he could have some assurance that he had not 
fought against sin c as one that beateth the air f and 
that much of his power arose from the point and 
seasonableness of his words, spoken as they were 
with an intimate knowledge of the individual cases 
of those who formed his auditory." There was 



1 3 8 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 

piercing dire&ness — the shafts of living Scripture 
flew straight to their intended mark, and each swift 
sentence had an aim clear as had the arrow found 
on the ancient battle-field, bearing the motto "For 
Philip's eye." 

The bows of eloquence, it has been said, are 
buried with the archers, and the life of rhetoric 
perishes with the rhetorician ; it darkens with his 
eye, stiffens with his hand, freezes with his tongue. 
No full idea of what Alleine was in this respeft 
can be gathered from his writings ; we are nearly 
dependent for information on the testimonies of 
those who heard him, and to cite these would be 
almost endless, but we may cite a few. 

cc Few ages have produced more eminent preachers 
than Mr. Joseph Alleine," says Oliver Heywood. 
Baxter speaks of his cc lively seriousness," and of 
his cc great ministerial skilfulness in the public 
explication and application of the Scriptures — so 
melting, so convincing, so powerful." cc He had a 
powerful and charming rhetoric," adds Mr. Mayo, 
when telling of his reputation at Oxford. Pearse, 
an Episcopal clergyman, who heard him preach, 
commends him as cc eminently learned and excel- 
lent." Mr. Newton thus speaks : — cc His minis- 
terial studies were more than usually easie to him, 
being of a quick conceit, a ready, strong, and 
faithful memory, a free expression (which was 
rather nervous and substantial, than soft and deli- 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 1 3 9 

cate), and, which was best of all, a holy heart that 
boiled and bubbled up with good matter. This 
furnished him, on all occasions, not with warm 
affe6Uons only, but with holy notions too. For 
his heart was an epistle, written not with ink, 
but with the Spirit of the living God. In the 
course of his ministry, he was a good man, and in 
his heart a good treasure ; whence he was wont 
continually to bring forth good things, both in 
publick and private. 

cc He was apt to preach and pray, most ready on 
all occasions to spend himself in such work : when 
my sudden distemper seized upon me, putting him 
at any time (as many times it did) upon very short 
and suddain preparations, he never refused ; no, 
not so much as fluctuated in the undertaking ; but 
being called, he confidently cast himself upon the 
Lord, and trusted perfedtly to His assistance, 
who had never failed him ; and so he readily and 
freely went about his work without distra&ion. 

cc He began upon a very considerable stock of 
learning, and gifts ministerial and personal, much 
beyond the proportion of his years ; and grew 
exceedingly in his abilities and graces in a little 
time ; so that his profiting appeared to all men. 
He waxed very rich in heavenly treasure, by the 
blessing of God on a diligent hand, so that he was 
behind in no good gift. He found that precious 
promise sensibly made good, c To him that hath 



I4O ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 

(for use and good employment) shall be given, and 
he shall have abundance.' He had no talent for 
the napkin, but all for traffique, which he laid out 
so freely for his Master's use, that in a little time 
they multiplied so fast, that the napkin could not 
hold them. I heard a worthy minister say of him 
once (not without much admiration), c Whence hath 
this man these things ?' He understood whence he 
had them well enough, and so did I, — even from 
above, whence every good and perfect gift pro- 
ceedeth. God blessed him in all spiritual blessings 
in heavenly things, and he returned all to Heaven 
again ; he served God with all his might and all 
his strength ; he was abundant in the work of the 
Lord; he did not go, but run the wayes of His 
commandments ; he made haste and lingered not ; 
c he did run, and was not weary ; he did walk, and 
was not faint.' He pressed hard towards the mark, 
till he attained it ; his race was short and swift, and 
his end glorious. 

cc He was infinitely and insatiably greedy of the 
conversion of souls, wherein he had no small 
success in the time of his ministry ; and to this 
end he poured out his very heart in prayer and in 
preaching ; he imparted not the Gospel only, but 
his own soul. His supplications, and his exhor- 
tations, many times were so affectionate, so full of 
holy zeal, life, and vigor, that they quite overcame 
his hearers ; he melted over them, so that he 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE, I4I 



thawed and mollified, and sometimes dissolved the 
hardest hearts. But while he melted thus, he 
wasted, and at last consumed himself." 

Another contemporary writes as follows : — 
Cf His judgment was as the pot of manna, wherein 
were found and conserved all wholesome, soul-feed- 
ing dodlrines. His memory was as the tables of 
the covenant, and as the sacred records kept in the 
ark, God's law being his meditation day and night. 
So tenacious it was, that it needed not and wholly 
refused those helps by which it is usually kept. 
What had once engaged his love was, without 

delay or difficulty, possessed of his memory." 

***** * 

cc His phansie was as Aaron's rod budding, ever 
producing fresh blossoms of refined, divine wit. 
His affe&ions were strong and fervent, never en- 
kindled but with a coal from the altar. He had 
a great acquaintance with the chief sedbs of the 
philosophers, especially of the academics and stoicks, 
of his insight into whom he made singular use, by 
gathering their choicest flowers to adorn Christi- 
anity withal ; and scarcely did he preach a sermon 
wherein he did not seledl some excellent passage 
or other out of them, whereby to illustrate and 
fortify his discourse. His prolation or manner of 
speech was free, sublime, and weighty. It will be 
hard to tell what man ever spake with more holy 
eloquence, gravity, authority, meekness, compas- 
sion, and efficacy to souls." 



142 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



Such are a few of the expressions written about 
him, years after his death, by a minister of the 
church of England who knew him well. 

The theme of his preaching was always cc Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified ;" and we are informed 
that his views of the central peculiarities of the 
Christian system were the same as those held by 
Dr. Davenant, bishop of Salisbury^ and Mr. 
Baxter. The sentiments of the former may be 
inferred from his threatened suspension by King 
James, in 1630, for asserting in a sermon the doc- 
trine contained in the seventeenth article of his 
Church ; * — the sentiments of the latter are not so 
easy to define; but his declared approval of the 
Assembly's Confession and the Synod of Dort's 
Conclusions, with some slight exceptions, seem 
decisive on the point that he was essentially a Cal- 
vinist ; f although it was certainly the aim of his 
life to adjust the balance between the two great 
dodlrinal systems, and to bring their respective 
adherents to closer communion. 

Alleine's theological doctrines have not been 
given to us in any form of scientific unity, but we 
may suspect that the critics who asserted their like- 
ness to those of Baxter, had special reference to his 
constant call to the unconverted, and to the fad: 
that he dealt with every man as a free and respon- 



* Fuller, Book XI., p. 138. f Orme's Life of Baxter, ii., 76, 77. 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



H3 



sible agent, open to receive the invitations of the 
Gospel. Although even the most rigid followers 
of the Genevese reformer preached the cc glad 
tidings " to the unconverted, they often did so in 
strains made so cold and mysterious by subtleties 
of qualification, and led the people round to the 
waters of life through such a tangled brake of 
logical refinements, that their invitations seemed 
scarcely to be given in good faith ; and they some- 
times even seemed afraid, lest, through their own 
mismanagement, some of the wrong persons might 
get saved after all. But Alleine, on the other 
hand, feeling no embarrassment and no reserve, 
and shackled by no theoretic misgivings — with 
shouting voice, flashing eye, and a soul on fire 
with love, proclaimed a completed and gratuitous 
salvation to all who were willing to accept it. The 
Spirit of God gave his message great effed, and 
multitudes, through all the days of heaven, will 
remember Taunton Magdalene as the place where 
they first beheld that great sight — Cf the Lamb of 
God who taketh away the sin of the world ! " 

But this great evangelist was not great merely, 
or even chiefly, in the pulpit. Other agency was 
needful to touch the many thousands for whom 
there was no room within church walls. It was an 
age of wondrous evangelic a<5tivity, but the uncer- 
tain tenure of government discouraged the eredtion 
of new churches, and in that populous town there 



i 4 4 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



was only one small church besides his own. The 
Baptist conventicle was the only worshipping 
assembly of any other kind. The various opinions 
now represented by Dissenters — separation from the 
State, of course, excepted — had then place and voice 
within the ecclesiastical buildings belonging to 
the nation ; comparatively, only a few objefted to 
the State control of religion.* Nearly everything 
had to be done, therefore, by the unassisted a&ion 
of the parish ministers. 

By these circumstances he was stimulated to 
almost incredible labours as a catechist. Several 
hours were spent on each of the seven days of the 
week in work of this kind, and in the following way : 
— On the Sunday morning he preached from his own 
pulpit, and when Mr. Newton, owing to infirmity, 
was disabled from taking his turn in the evening, 
he would then preach the same sermon again, after- 
wards calling forth several youths to give an 
account of its leading thoughts from memory. In 
either case he constantly catechised in the after- 
noon, before a great congregation, the youth of 
each sex, the children of the magistrates and of 
other gentry with the rest. The Assembly's Cate- 



* Perhaps this may help to illustrate the statement made by the 
Rev. Dr. Cottle — that, in the time of the Rev. Joseph Alleine 
(one of the former clergymen), " there were no Dissenting places of 
worship in the parish." — Some Account of the Church of St. Mary 
Magdalen, p. 73. 



4LLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 145 



chism was the basis of the exercise, but along with 
it were questions in writing which he had given out 
in the previous week. 

On Thursday afternoon he also catechised in the 
church, street by street, whole families, except the 
married or more aged, in order. In the remaining 
five afternoons, from one or two o'clock until 
seven in the evening, he would adopt the same 
method more privately. Mrs. Theodosia Alleine 
says, cc In this work, his course was to draw a 
catalogue of the names of the families in each street, 
and so to send a day or two before he intended 
to visit them. Those that sent slight excuses, or 
did obstinately refuse his message, he would speak 
some few affectionate words to them, or if he saw 
cause/ denounce the threatenings of God against 
them that despise His ministers, and so departed ; 
and after would send letters to them so full of love 
as did overcome their hearts, and they did many of 
them afterwards receive him into their houses. 
Herein was his compassion shown to all sorts, both 
poor and rich." 

Another witness adds, Cf When he came, and the 
members of the family were called together, he would 
first be instructing the younger sort in the principles 
of religion by asking several questions in the Cate- 
chism. Then he would be pressing thepradtice of them 
upon their consciences, with the most cogent argu- 
ments and considerations, minding them of the great 



I46 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



priviledges they did enjoy, the many Gospel-sermons 
that they did or might hear, the many talents they 
were entrusted withal, and the great account that they 
had to give to the God of heaven. Telling them 
how sad it would be with them another day, if after 
all this they should come short of salvation. Those 
that were serious and religious, he would labour to 
help forward in holiness, by answering their doubts, 
resolving their cases, encouraging them under their 
difficulties. And before he did go from any family, 
he would deal with the heads of that family, and such 
others as were grown to years of discretion, singly 
and apart ; that so he might (as much as possibly 
he could) come to know the condition of each par- 
ticular person in his flock, and address himself in 
his discourse as might be suitable to every of 'them. 
If he did perceive that they did live in the negled 
of family duties, he would exhort and press them 
to set up the worship of God in their families, and 
directing them how to set about it, and to take 
time for secret duties too. Such as were masters of 
families, he would earnestly desire, as they did tender 
the honour of Christ and the welfare of their children 
and servants' souls, to let them have some time every 
day for such private duties, and to encourage them 
in the performance of them ; neither would he leave 
them before he had a promise of them so to do."* 

# Account of his catechising, by Mr. John Glanvil, M.A., 
minister of St. James's, Taunton. 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 1 47 



After this, every Saturday morning, he cate- 
chised the free-school of the place,* cc excellently 
explaining the answers in the Assembly's Catechism, 
discovering a mine of knowledge in them and in 
himself." f 

While thus careful that all should understand 
those do&rines which he himself received, without a 
doubt, as the clear dictates of Heaven, he was 
equally in earnest that these should be translated 
into a resolutely holy and adlive life. Some 
called him a legalist, because, with young and old, 
high and low, he was severely pra&ical, both as a 
preacher of righteousness and a fearless reprover of 
sin. When any person had been detected or 
suspe&ed of promise-breaking, deceitful trading, or 
of not being diligent in his calling, he would be 
sure to hear of it from his minister, whatever the 
event might be, cc The failings of professors 
touched him to the very quick, and brought him 
low ; drew prayers, tears, and lamentations, both by 
word and letter, from him. "J Life, he told the 
people, was not to be spent in saintly reverie, and 
cc Religion was not a thing that knew only how to 
kneel, but not to walk, or work." 



* The free-school was founded in 1522, by Fox, bishop of 
Winchester. Dr. Toulmin, when speaking of a gentleman who 
was head master in 1730, says it was the largest provincial school 
at that time known in England. 

f Portraiture of a Compleat Gospel Minister. J Newton. 

L 2 



I48 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



cc Beyond his labours in that great congregation 
wherein he was fixed/' observes his father-in-law, 
fC the care of many other congregations was daily 
upon him. He went forth frequently into several 
places about the country, among the poor ignorant 
people that lived in dark corners, and had none to 
take care of them, and both preached to them him- 
self and stirred up many of his brethren, whose 
forward minds readily joined with him. 5 ' 

At that time the ministers in the west of Eng- 
land — Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Independent — 
had formed themselves into an Association for their 
mutual assistance in the ministry. This was parted 
into seven divisions, which met quarterly, and into 
many sub-divisions which met once in six weeks. 
In their quarterly meetings, the moderator opened 
the engagement with a Latin prayer ; then there 
was a thesis on some question in divinity, and a 
disputation, in which the ministers present opposed 
the respondent ; after that would be words of in- 
quiry and advice in relation to the local interests 
of religion. All the various divisions had a yearly 
united meeting at Exeter.* Mr. Alleine's influ- 



* Calamy's Account, vol. ii.,p. 227. The writer would here say, 
that there is every evidence short of the most distinct assertion that 
the Ministers' Association, of which Alleine was a conspicuous mem- 
ber, was that of which Calamy has given an account as above. 
He thinks it clear enough to be assumed as certain. Palmer says 
that amongst the many episcopal ministers who belonged to it 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 1 49 



ence with the ministers thus convened was great. 
On one occasion, after a debate on the best methods 
of promoting family instru&ion in their respective 
charges, he was appointed to prepare a paper on the 
subject, which was afterwards printed. On another 
occasion he advised his brethren to set apart the 
two hours immediately before eight o'clock every 
Monday morning for special prayer secretly, or in 
concert with selected friends, on behalf of the 
church and the nation. This rule, originating 
with him, and supported by the sanction of the 
western ministers, was observed for many years 
by Nonconformists far and wide, — it was ob- 
served in London, and the practice extended even 
to Wales.* 

It may be wondered how so young a man could 
have wielded so much power. There were several 
reasons for it. One source of his power was his 
own character, which drew expressions of respect 
from the most reluctant lips. cc The tongues of 
all did pay tribute to his good name, which was 



were — Drs. Hutchinson, Gandy, Fulwood, Ashton 5 Messrs. Ack- 
land and Banks. — Nonconformist Mem., vol. ii., p. 391 . Voluntary- 
associations of Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Independent ministers 
were also formed in other places. For an account of one in 
Shropshire, see P. Henry's Life, 1698^. 60. For a reference to one 
in Lancashire, see Life of Hey wood, by Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., 
p. 109. 

* Among other references to this, see P. Henry's Life, p. 151. 



I^O ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



a thing so entire and sacred that scarce a Rab- 
shakeh or a Shimei could find a passage to invade 
it." cc He was both a first table-man and a second 
table-man — that is, his religion had constant respe6l 
both to God and man ; and much as he loved hours 
of divine communion, he was not so much in the 
mount with God as not also to come down to his 
neighbour, whom he did accost as Moses, with both 
tables in his hand, on which his life and doftrine 
did constantly and excellently comment." 

Another source of his power was his own 
assurance of his divine calling as a minister. 
Evidently, if a thing so extravagant could visit the 
imagination, as that in the changes of life the 
magistracy should ever say to him, cc Be silent ; 
it is against the law for you to speak — you are not 
a minister ;" the efFed would be much the same 
as in olden time it would have been, if the civil 
government had told Elijah that he was not a 
prophet. This belief in his commission made every 
thing he did bold and impressive. Confidence 
begets confidence. All felt its effed. He was 
young, but every moment he seemed to hear a 
voice from heaven say, <c These things do, and 
speak with all authority. Let no man despise thee ;" 
— and no man did. 

Another secret of his power was the charm of his 
presence. cc He was tall and ered, with a counte- 
nance sprightly and serene, yet with such an inde- 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. I 5 I 



scribable gravity and look of command, resulting 
from a mind ever in awe before God, that his very 
look struck an awe on all with whom he conversed, 
and composed them to a true decorum. So that 
as reverend Mr. Bolton, when walking the streets, 
was so much clothed with majesty that the notice 
of his coming in these words — c Here comes Mr. 
Bolton!' — would, as it were, charm people into 
order when vain or doing amiss ; so this most grave 
divine, wheresoever he came, was as a walking 
spirit, by his presence conjuring them into a grave 
deportment, his countenance ever pointing out his 
awful soul. What the image of Sennacherib did 
speak, much more did this lively image of the most 
high God speak : c He who looketh to me, let him 
be religious.' "* 

Another spell that he had was his known gene- 
rosity. His aged father,, and divers of his brethren 
with their large families, being fallen into decay, 
he gave pensions to some, portions to others, 
education to the rest. He gave much alms daily. 
When trade was low, he would give beyond his ability 
to assist godly tradesmen to recover their standing. 
Pease and flitches of bacon would he buy for dis- 
tribution twice in the year in the severe weather. 
Several children did he keep at school at his own 



# Abridged from " An entire and exa6l Delineation of this holy 
Person." 



I52 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



cos^ bought many books and catechisms, had many 
thousands of prayers printed and circulated ; gave 
largely to the assistance of poor ministers, and took 
many journeys to the gentry in the country on 
their behalf ; partly by his own gifts, and partly by 
exciting the liberality of others, established lecture- 
ships in the dark villages. Every remarkable 
mercy was acknowledged by a " thankoffering" in 
the shape of a special donation to the poor. There 
seems to have been some alchemy required to con- 
jure all these golden results out of a minister's 
income ; but it should be remembered that his 
resources were at this time greatly augmented by 
his wife's school. All that we would say is, that 
he appears to have been generous to the last limit 
of possibility.* 

In this life of almost seraphic ministry, that 
seemed to ask no recreation and to know no pause, 
he yet found time for scholastic labours scarcely 
less remarkable. At the oak ledern in his library 
he studied the Fathers, became acquainted with 
much of the learning contained in more than one 
living language, and through his peculiar skill in 
cc the three languages which Christ sanctified at the 
Cross," f unlocked many a treasure of ancient 



* Accounts by Mr Newton, Mr. R. Alleine, Mrs. Theodosia, 
and others. 

f Ludovicus Vivos. 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. I 53 

thought. Some results of these explorings were 
given in a work on the harmony between revela- 
tion and nature, as shown by a comparison between 
the doftrines of Scripture and those of ancient 
philosophers. The work was in Latin, and was 
entitled cc Theologia Philosophica. I. De cog- 
nitione Dei. 2. De Existentia Dei. 3. De Nomi- 
nibus et Substantia Dei. 4. De Attributis Dei in 
Genere, et Speciatim de ejus unitate. 5. De Per- 
fection Divina. 6. De Decretis Divinis. 7. De 
Providentia Divina. 8. De Cultu Divino de 
Precibus." cc In all which/' remarks his friend 
Richard Baxter, cc he delivereth, in a very good 
Latin style, the Christian do6lrine ; and then, by 
way of annotations, addeth the testimony of the 
philosophers .... such a promptuary for 
any one who hath not leisure to peruse, or to gather 
for such particular uses the philosophers themselves, 
that I know not where you can find the like. For 
every sheet or two of his doftrine on the subject, 
you have eight, ten, twelve, or more sheets of col- 
lected attestations." 

Only one volume of this work received the 
author's final touches, and was licensed for the 
press ; and the following is its title-page : — "Theo- 
logize Philosophies, sive Philosophise Theologies 
specimen : In quo iEterni Dei Providentia solius 
Naturae lumine comprobatur, validissimis rationum 
momentis demonstratur, quoad Partes, Species, 



i 5 4 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



Obje6ta, et explicatur ; contra omnes denique ad- 
versariorum Objedtiones firmatur ; ex Aristotele, 
Platone, Chalcidio, Sallustio, Firmico, Empirico, 
Jamblico, Antonino, Epi&eto, Proclo, Simplicio, 
Cicerone, Seneca, Macrobio, Porphyrio, Xeno- 
phonte, Galeno, Plutarcho, Plotino, Tyrio, Apu- 
leio, Alcinoo, aliisque Philosophis, Oratoribus et 
Poetis, turn Grsecis turn Latinis, ad Atheorum 
convi&ionem, et Orthodoxorum confirmationem ; 
Elucubratione J. A., anno dom. 1661." 

These manuscripts were never printed, and are 
now lost ; but speaking of the evidences they gave 
of the writer's profound capacity, and wide classical 
reading, Baxter says, cc All these in a man so 
young, as unless in one Giovanni Pico Delia Mi- 
ranola, one Keckermann, one Pemble, in a country, 
are rarely to be found."* 

Yet he was not a mere man of books. His 
acquaintance with some of the patriarchs of the 
Royal Society, who were then busily collecting the 
fads which other ages were more fully to interpret 
and classify, kindled in his mind an interest in 



# It is believed that this manuscript was in the possession of the 
Rev. Dr Toulmin, and shared the fate of the doctor's papers. The 
Rev. Arthur Jones, of Taunton, writes : " All Dr. Toulmin's MSS. 
were lost in the wreck of the vessel in which they were being con- 
veyed to America, to Judge Harry Toulmin, the son of the doctor. 
The house of the same Judge Toulmin was afterwards burnt down 
by accident, and his library destroyed." 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. I Cj $ 

science. One of his friends notices cc his con- 
siderable skill in anatomy, acquired by frequent 
dissections ; this/' he continues, cc led him to com- 
pose, with Galen, hymns to the Creator, whose 
infinite wisdom, displayed in wonders herein dis- 
closed, he was often heard to admire." 

Minds, like fields, need a rotation of crops to 
keep them from becoming wastes of exhausted soil. 
Collateral studies increase the working power of a 
minister, and tend to give freshness, variety, and 
striking life to his teachings. It was so here ; but 
there were persons in the congregation who thought 
differently. They looked with disfavour on their 
minister's short excursions into the regions of 
science, poetry, and classical reading, for they dimly 
feared that such pursuits robbed them of some- 
thing, and that the time thus occupied was so much 
time taken from duty. Unhappily, wiseacres like 
these are still to be seen here and there in the land 
of the living. Let us hope that the day is at hand 
when we shall only know them as fossil memorials 
of an extinCl species, shelved amongst our historical 
curiosities. 

Another of his habits claims our special notice, for 
we may discover in it the foundation of his life's effi- 
ciency. "At the time of his health," writes his wife, 
"he did rise constantly at or before four of the clock ; 
and would be much troubled if he heard smiths or 
other craftsmen at work at their trades, before he 



i 5 6 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



was at communion with God : saying to me often, 
f How this noise shames me ! Doth not my Master 
deserve more than theirs ?' * From four till eight 
he spent in prayer, holy contemplation, and singing 
of psalms, in which he much delighted, and did 
daily pradice alone, as well as in his family." 
Sometimes he would suspend the routine of paro- 
chial engagements, and devote whole days to these 
secret exercises, in order to which, he would con- 
trive to be alone in some void house, or else in some 
sequestered spot in the open valley. Here there 
would be much prayer, much meditation on God 
and heaven. Baxter's cf Saints' Everlasting Rest" 
was a common cc companion of his solitude ;" and 
such was the vehement heavenliness of his spirit 
that his favourite employment was praise. We 
could scarcely find a more eminent example of 
thankfulness under all the vicissitudes of a troubled 
career. It was the peculiar grace and light of his 
life. Nearly all the scattered notices of him found 
in the letters of his survivors contain allusions to it. 
cc The greater part of his public devotions con- 
sisted of thanksgiving." He was never so much 
in his element in preaching as when extolling the 
marvellous love of God in Christ ; neither did 
he forget to sound forth the praise of His 



* An expression perhaps suggested by the saying imputed to 
Demosthenes. 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



*57 



perfections in His works, as witnessed in the fields 
and woods, and he has been often heard to 
say, cc Man is the tongue of the whole creation, 
appointed as the creature's interpreter, to speak 
forth and make articulate the praises which they 
but silently intimate." * cc He did delight in his 
devotions to converse with the fowls of the air, and 
the beasts of the field, with streams and plants did 
he delight to talk, and all these did utter in his 
attentive ear the praise and knowledge of his 
Creator ; afterwards, in his unsettled sojournings 
from place to place, he did often (to use his own 
words) look back with sweetness and great content 
on the places of his former pleasant retirements, 
setting, as it were, a mark on those which had 
marvellously pleased him in his solitudes, by ad- 
ministering to his contemplative delight." f 

He had a poet's enjoyment of nature, but only 
along with a Puritan's love of the Bible. Every scene 
was looked upon in the light of the sacred page ; 
and he indulged in no imaginations but such as 
were vividly biblical. While alive to all the num- 
berless changes of morning music and beauty, he 
felt yet more alive to the higher realities of which 
they reminded him. When on his way home from 
early prayer in the woods, he stood still in the 
rapture of peace to watch the orchard trees crowned 



Life, p. 131. 



f Ibid. 



I58 ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. 



with the foam of blossoms, he would all the while 
be saying to himself, " As the apple tree among 
the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the 
sons." Stopping, light-hearted, at other times, with 
the glee of a child to listen to the lark, to peer 
into a bird's nest in the hedge, to shake the rain 
out of a rose, or to notice the gossamer as it lay 
laced across the sparkling grass ; he would only be 
consciously thinking of the " Rose of Sharon/' the 
C€ Dew of Israel," the "Sun of Righteousness," or of 
the promises, the thought of which Christ has 
connected with the sight of the cc fowls of the air," 
the cc grass of the field," or the array of the lilies 
in more than Solomon's glory. We know that 
there are other springs of pure pleasure in God's 
works, and other lessons to be read there, besides 
those found by Alleine ; but if we all found as 
much as he did, our hearts would be larger and 
happier than they are. It is not altogether owing 
to a truer philosophy that we fail to find in creation 
remembrancers of texts and types of things divine. 
If, indeed, we believe that creation and redemption 
are both wrought by one Mediator, and are parts 
of one great system, it is not inconceivable that the 
first work should be constructed in subservient 
reference to the highest and last, — that it should 
be filled with Christian emblems and cyphers, wait- 
ing to be interpreted by each prepared spirit, under 
the guidance of the cc more sure word of prophecy;" 



ALLEINE IN THE SABBATH OF HIS LIFE. \ $g 

and that although nature is not commissioned 
to preach the Gospel to the lost, it should be full 
of evangelical meaning to the saved. Let us take 
heed that we are not ruled by a principle more 
narrow and realistic than that at which we smile. 

These were days of rare happiness. He was 
happy in his hours of holy thought ; happy in the 
calm society of books ; happy in his labours. 
Could you have seen him, after his hours of solitude, 
enjoy the hour of cheerful converse and peaceful 
devotion with his family, and then, cc rejoicing like 
a strong man to run his race," go forth to the work 
of the day, you would have thought that the time 
of his ministry at Taunton Magdalene was the 
Sabbath of his life. 



Chapter VIH. 



CDe act of <Mform% 

£C sacred Peace I whither art thou fled? 
What region hides thy drooping head ? 
Fled from the Church, fled from the State, 
Fled from the poor, fled from the great I 

Peace for the wicked ne^er was known ; 
But peace is now from Zion flown, 
Driven to the deserts and the woods, 
And there pursued by dragon-floods I " 

UNKNOWN WRITER OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



N the 29th of May, 1660, there was 
high festival in Taunton. After ser- 
vice in the church, the silvery bells 
of St. Mary's clashed out merrily, the 
guns of the castle boomed, the streets were alive 
with clamorous crowds, banners and oak boughs 
waved everywhere, joy was on every face and in 
every voice, for the King had come cc to enjoy his 
own again." This is only mentioned as a sample 




THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



161 



of the delight that burst forth through the length 
and breadth of merry England soon as the event 
became known. It was not known everywhere at 
once ; news travelled slowly in those days ; and 
there were towns in which the bells were not set 
ringing until a fortnight after the proper date, — 
the surprising discovery having then been suddenly 
made. 

By degrees, unfolding from this event, grew a 
train of consequences so important to our history 
that this chapter must be separately devoted to 
their recital ; therefore, parting company with 
Alleine for a few moments, and reserving for the 
present all matters relating exclusively to Taunton, 
we must now look at the Cf A6t of Uniformity/' 
tracing it from some of its springs to some of its 
outfalls. 

Generally speaking, the Puritans were attached 
to the monarchy. Its overthrow had been occa- 
sioned, not by them, but by the late misguided 
King ; and when, after that, confusion followed con- 
fusion, and there was no way out of the maze until 
Oliver Cromwell rose to the supreme executive, the 
new rule was accepted by them, not as the best in 
itself, but as the best the case would allow. On 
the death of that great magistrate, most were 
willing, and many were eager, that Government 
should return to its former course, and wear its 
ancient symbols ; — there seemed, indeed, to be no 

M 



162 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



alternative but this or anarchy. There seemed also 
to be now no fear that its re-establishment would 
bring any danger to their dearly-bought liberties ; 
for, surely, the King had been taught to resped 
these by his father's fate, and by his own adversity. 
Some, indeed, boded evil from the fad that his 
companions in adversity had been his father's evil 
counsellors, — some of the very men whose advice 
had urged on that illegal exercise of prerogative 
which had led inevitably to the revolution, — 

" Of a tall stature and a sable hue, 

Much like the son of Kish, that lofty Jew> 
Ten years of need he suffered in exile, 
And kept his father's asses all the while." # 

The ministers were more hopeful, perhaps be- 
cause they were more loyal — it was to their in- 
fluence, very largely, that King Charles owed the 
happy turn in his fortunes ;f and it was the candid 
saying of a church dignitary after the restoration, 
that " if the Nonconformist ministers could not 
drink the King's health, they helped to pray him 
to his throne." J Fie had lately still further won 
their hearts, good souls ! by putting on signs of 
piety. He had sent over from Breda a proclama- 
tion fC against debauchery and profaneness." When 
several of their number attended as a deputation 



# Andrew Marvell. 

f Baxter's Life, p . 216. 

% Conformist's Plea for the Nonconformists, p. 37. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



from the Lords and Commons to invite him back 
to England, it was their happiness one morning, 
while waiting at his command in an antechamber, 
to overhear him at his prayers, in which cc he 
thanked God that he was a covenanted king ; and 
hoped that the Lord would give him a humble, 
meek, forgiving spirit, that he might have for- 
bearance to his offending subjects, as he expected 
forbearance from Heaven."* Upon which, old 
Mr. Case, one of their number, lifted up his hands 
to heaven, and blessed God.f He had also sent 
a declaration granting a general pardon to all his 
loving subjeds who should lay hold of it within 
forty days, except such as should be excepted by 
Parliament. cc We do also declare," said he, " a 
liberty to tender consciences, and that no man 
shall be disquieted or called in question for differ- 
ences of opinion in matters of religion which do 
not disturb the peace of the kingdom." J With 
regard to the structural arrangements of the church 
the Presbyterians were willing to make large con- 
cessions ; and they expected to be comprehended 
with others in a church-scheme after the model 
suggested by Archbishop Usher, in which the main 
points of difference between them and the Episco- 



# Crosby's History of Baptists, vol. i.,p. 357. 
f Palmer, vol. ii., p. 43. 

J Lord Somers"' Colleftions, 4to., 1795, p. 349. 
M 2 



164 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



palians should be left open. cc In things essential, 
unity ; in things indifferent, liberty ; in all things 
charity." In these expectations they were sustained 
by the result of the conferences which they had 
invited with Dr. Morley and the chief clergy. 
But these gentlemen meantime were receiving their 
secret instructions from Chancellor Hyde, who thus 
wrote to them from Breda : — cc The King very 
well approves that Dr. Morley and some of his 
brethren should enter into conferences with the 
Presbyterian party, in order to reduce them to such a 
temper as is consistent with the good of the church ; 
and it may be no ill expedient to assure them 
of present good preferments ; but, in my opinion, 
you should rather endeavour to win over those, 
who, being recovered, will both have reputation and 
desire to merit from the church, than be over- 
solicitous to comply with the pride and passion of 
those who propose extravagant things."* 

On the occasion of his triumphal entry into 
London, his majesty was pleased still further to 
dulcify the Presbyterians, by receiving from their 
aged spokesman, Mr. Arthur Jackson, a richly- 
embossed Bible, — declaring, as he did so, Cf that he 
intended to make that blessed book the rule of his 
conduct ; assuring the ministers, at the same time, 
that he attributed his restoration, under God, to 



* Life of Dr. Barwick, p. 525. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



165 



their prayers and endeavours."* He also admitted 
ten of their number into the list of his Court 
chaplains, and, cf for once a martyr to the public 
good, submitted himself to the penalty of hearing 
four of their sermons. That with which Baxter 
greeted him, could not have been recited by the 
most rapid voice in less than two hours. It is a 
solemn contrast of the sensual and the spiritual 
life, without one courtly phrase to relieve his cen- 
sure of the vices of the great."f 

The opening of the new reign was a morning 
full of promise, but after a few hours, threatening 
clouds began to gather. First, an A6t was passed 
for restoring the sequestered clergy to their livings. 
All ought to allow that it was only a righteous 
thing to restore the worthy men who had been 
ejefted simply on account of their conscientious 
objection to Cromwell's government ; but it must 
be borne in mind, that great numbers of the 
sequestered were utterly unworthy of the clerical 
station, and had been displaced from it simply on 
account of infamous incompetency or vice. As 
Christian legislators, the framers of the A6t felt 
that there were some who could not be reinstated 
with propriety. Even royal charity must have 
its limits, — a line must be drawn somewhere. Many 



* Conformist's Fourth Plea, 4-to., 1683, p. 69. 
f Sir James Stephen. 



i66 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



of the old clergy were still objefts of popular 
derision for their illiteracy, or for their tavern- 
haunting propensities, but these were not unpardon- 
able sins. Others, however, of the unhappy men 
had so degenerated since their ejection, that they 
had actually professed republican politics ; and, 
such is human nature when left to itself, there were 
others who had gone so far as to become Baptists ! 
These two extreme offences were not to be for- 
given ; but besides these two things, nothing 
cc scandalous" was recognized as a bar to restora- 
tion. It was therefore enabled, that cc Every 
sequestered minister who has not justified the late 
King's murder, or declared against infant baptism, 
shall be restored to his living before the 25 th of 
December next ensuing, and the present incum- 
bent shall peaceably quit it, and be accountable for 
dilapidations, and all arrears of fifths not paid." 
By this Ad, " some hundreds of Nonconformist 
ministers were dispossessed of their livings in the 
first year of the King's reign," cc but in every instance 
where the old incumbent was dead, the living was 
confirmed to the a6tual possessor."* 

The clouds grew darker. Soon as the clergy 
were in their old places again, they loudly lauded 
the King's Adt of Oblivion; but sometimes in a way 



* Neale ; Toulmin's edition, vol. iii., p. 40. See also Henry 
Jessey's " Loud Call," p. 2. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



not the best adapted to advance its avowed objeft. 
Sunday after Sunday, before the King, before the 
judges, on great occasions as well as in the regular 
course of their ministry, did they minutely enume- 
rate the things that were to be forgotten, and 
lengthily expatiate on the enormities that were to 
be forgiven. Take, as one instance out of many, 
an Assize Sermon, preached by Dr. Creede on 
September 6, 1660 : — 

" I am resolved, in imitation of the King's un- 
paralleled A6i of grace and perpetual oblivion, not 
to meddle with any persons or parties concerned in 

that Adfc The instruments of all our 

miseries could never have been able to have done 
anything against us, unless God had not only given 
them in charge, but assisted them to do it. We 
blame their pride, and covetousness, and ambition, 
and we do not amiss. But our spoils and plunder 
were the wages God bestowed upon them for their 
service ; and they were God's hirelings when they 
knew it not, and only designed to serve their lusts 
and obey their own ambition. Even heathen 
Cyrus was God's anointed, though he was ignorant 

of Him This should help us to 

bury our animosities on all sides. Consider we, 
that they have been God's instruments, His fire 
and hammer to break us for the furnace, and melt 
us from our dross and tin. The Devil, God's 
excutioner, and wicked men his substitutes " (such 



i68 



the act: of uniformity. 



as Newton and Alleine), cc are all but in a chain. 

. Though God put you into the melting- 
pot, yet it was not your just crimes, but your 
steadfastness and constancy in your adherence to 
the King and the laws, and the primitive dodtrine 
and discipline of the church, threw you out of your 
places and callings."* 

These exhortations to forgetfulness were not 
successful ; indeed, they seemed rather to exasperate 
party remembrances than otherwise. The Puritans 
were betrayed, but they ought not to have been 
surprised. They never had been, and they never 
could be, really popular, — their religion was alto- 
gether unfitted to be the instrument of the State. 
It was not in human nature for the clergy to regard 
them with anything but a retaliative spirit, after 
enduring so much provocation at their hands. 
When, therefore, they had assisted to place the 
King upon the throne, they were no more wanted, 
and were to be treated henceforth only as a defeated 
fadlion. 



* Judah's Purging in the Melting-Pot : a Sermon preached in the 
Cathedral at Sarum, before the Rev. Sir Robert Foster, and Sir 
Thomas Tyrell, Knights, Judges for the Western Circuit, at the 
Wiltshire Assizes, Sept. 6, 1660. By W. Creede, D.D,, Arch- 
deacon of Wilts, and Canon-Resident of Sarum. Dedicated to the 
above Knights and the Justices of Peace in the County of Wilts. 
Dr. Creede was a man of great influence. See the Kennett Collec- 
tion," Lansdowne MSS., 986. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



169 



The sky was lowering every moment. In 1661, 
an A61 was passed for cf The better regulating of 
Corporations/' the effedl of which was to expel all 
the Nonconformists from the various branches of 
the magistracy; and before the close of the follow- 
ing year, not a municipal officer was left who was 
not entirely devoted to cc church and king." # John 
Bunyan was watching all this, and in the cc Holy 
War" we are told how Diabolus remodelled the 
captured town of Mansoul, turning out Mr. Con- 
science the recorder, and bringing in a new set of 
aldermen and burgesses. 

As a consequence of this measure, and through 
the appointment of justices who asserted the prin- 
ciple that cc the old laws returned with the King," 
the ministers were treated as men who held an 
illegal and therefore undefended office. They were 
insulted in the streets, they could not even worship 
God in their own dwellings without liability to 
interruption by persons blowing horns, or flinging 
stones at their windows ; and there was little chance 
of redress. Their public ministry was open to still 
greater disturbance, and although the discipline of the 
church was understood by those in highest authority 
to be in suspension, they were continually hearing 
of old friends being sequestered from their livings, 



* Neale, vol. iii., p 4, 



170 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



and cited into ecclesiastical courts for not using the 
surplice in the ceremonies. In March, 1662, the 
grand jury at Exeter found bills of indicftment 
against more than forty eminent ministers, for not 
reading common prayer. The diaries of ministers 
who were not deprived, abound at this time in 
entries like these : — 

ff Strong reports I should not be suffered to 
preach to-day ; but I did ; and no disturbance. 
Blessed be God, who hath my enemies in a 
chain ! " 

cc In despite of my enemies, the Lord hath 
granted the liberty of one Sabbath more. To Him 
be praise." 

cc Common Prayer-book tendered again. Lord, 
they devise wicked devices against me ; but in thee 
do I put my trust. Father, forgive them !" 

cc They took the cushion from me, but the 
pulpit was left. Blessed be God !" 

cc Day of preparation for the sacrament 

The good Lord pardon ! Full of fears lest we 
should be hindered ; for our adversaries bite the 
lip at us." 

fC Through the good hand of God upon us, we 
have this day enjoyed one sweet Sabbath more. 
They did us all the hinderance they could ; but, 
notwithstanding, we proceeded."* 



* Passages from Philip Henry's Diary in 1661 and 1662. 



THE ACT OF U N1F0 R MITT. 



I 7 I 



All through the two years immediately following 
the renewal of monarchy in England, the Inde- 
pendents and Baptists, especially those who had not 
been included in the ecclesiastical framework of the 
State, only petitioned for toleration ; but the Pres- 
byterians, who were already thus included, and who 
still desired to be so, were occupied in unceasing 
conferences with the men in power, hoping to gain 
their consent to a system so modified as to admit 
of their own continued comprehension within its 
pale. After many fair but evasive speeches, the 
King appointed a meeting between them and the 
diocesan clergy to consider the possibility of such a 
comprehension. They met at the Savoy, on the 
25 th of March, 1661, and after a discussion drawn 
through four months, episcopal tadtics brought 
this clerical tourney to a feeble if not a ludicrous 
close — Cf a conclusion in which nothing was con- 
cluded." 

Before the Savoy conference was over, the two 
houses of convocation assembled. On the 20th of 
November, by the authority of the King, and also, 
it was pretended, by the request of the Presby- 
terians, they commenced the revision of the Prayer- 
book and the forms of ordination, in order to fix 
the standard of uniform worship. Clarendon was 
the secret ruler of the proceedings, but the chief 
agents here, as at the Savoy, were Bishops Sheldon 
and Morley ; and Burnet says that, in reality, 



172 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



everything was dire<5ted by them.* These men 
were vehement representatives of the party that 
aimed to place the crown above the laws, and the 
church above the crown. It is also notorious that 
Sheldon was a man of profligate chara&er, and a 
rival of rakes like Sedley in eccentricities of degra- 
ding vice.f It was therefore easy to foresee the 
result of this council, and after the labours of a 
month, the result came forth. 

A list had been given them of the liturgical 
changes which the Presbyterians desired ; but 
although, according to Tenison, afterwards arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, about six hundred small 
alterations or additions were made, — according to 
Burnet, cc care was taken that nothing should be 
altered as it had been moved by the Presbyterians, 
for it was resolved to gratify them in nothing." J 
It was known that no Presbyterian minister could 
confess the nullity of his previous ministrations, or 
allow that his ministry could have two beginnings ; § 
therefore, contrary to the decision of Archbishop 



* Burnet's History of his Own Times, vol. i., p. 184. 

f Diary of Mr. Pepys 5 Bonn's Edition, vol. iv., 29th July, 1667. 

J Burnet, vol. i., p. 183. 

§ "Pray, Sir," said the bishop of Exeter to John Howe, u what 
hurt is there in being twice ordained ?" " Hurt, my lord," rejoined 
he 5 " it hurts my understanding ; the thought is shocking j it is 
an absurdity, since nothing can have two beginnings. I am sure I 
am a minister of Christ, and am ready to debate that matter with you, 
if your lordship pleases, but I cannot begin again to be a minister." 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



173 



Grindal and the first English churchmen, — con- 
trary to the statute and pra&ice which, at the close 
of the sixteenth century, allowed scores if not hun- 
dreds of clergymen to officiate in the English church 
who had not been ordained episcopally, they now 
denied the validity of the orders of all who had been 
ordained during the last twenty years, and required 
every man who had been thus ordained to make the 
same virtual denial, by submitting to episcopal ordi- 
nation on pain of being deprived of his benefice. It 
was known that the Puritans disliked the saints' 
days, — cc In 1604 and 1662 the legendary store- 
houses of Rome were ransacked and the 

feelings of the Puritan party were wantonly out- 
raged by the insertion of the names of fifty or sixty 
of the mythical or semi-historical heroes of monkish 
legend .... and the names of a few Popes were 
considerately included in the list." It was known 
that they objected to the apocryphal lessons, — the 
bishops therefore added another, containing the 
story of cc Bel and the Dragon." It was known 
that they objected to the sacerdotal and sacramental 
theories of the Prayer-book, — consequently, "all 
the matters about which they scrupled were now 
made prominent, and a coherence and systematic 
consistency were for the first time given to those 
sacerdotal and sacramental theories which had pre- 
viously existed in the Prayer-book only in an em- 
bryotic condition ; and certain dogmas, which, by 



174 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



the moderation of the reformers, had been couched 
in vague and general terms, were now expressed in 
ample and emphatic phraseology."* It was known 
that the aim of the Presbyterian sedion of the 
Puritans was to make the church of England com- 
prehend all who hold essentially the common faith 
of Christians. The aim of the bishops was to 
make this comprehension impossible, — at least it 
was resolved to exclude every Puritan. cc It is to 
be called a comprehensive church/' said the bishop 
of Ely, when preaching before the King ; " though 
I think it might better be called a drag-net— a 
Trojan horse with a comprehensive belly." To 
prevent such a profanation, he and his brethren 
studied to incorporate into the Prayer-book things 
new and old, to which the Puritans most strongly 
objeded ; and next, they demanded not merely the 
promise of conformity to all these in pradice, but, 
what is a very different thing, the profession of 
conformity in principle— conformity the most full, 
distind, and particular— cc unfeigned assent and 
consent to all and everything contained and pre- 
scribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer." 
The present organic forms of the church of 
England, therefore, owe their very existence to a 
protest against the dodrine of comprehension. 
When the earl of Manchester told the King that 



* The Liturgy and the Dissenters, by the Rev. Isaac Taylor, M.A. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



T 75 



the proposed terms of conformity were so hard that 
he feared many who were now ministers would not 
be able to comply ; cc I am afraid they will," said 
Sheldon ; cf but now we know their minds, we will 
make them all knaves if they conform." 

This work of re-constru6ting the Prayer-book 
having been effected, it was sent to the King and 
his council, and from thence transmitted with the 
seal of his majesty's approval to the houses of legis- 
lature that it might pass into law. 

Meanwhile, the course of proceedings was felt to 
be impeded by the royal promise from Breda that 
" no man should be disquieted or called into ques- 
tion for differences in religious matters not disturb- 
ing the peace of the kingdom." To remedy this 
inconvenience, reports were circulated of a general 
insurrection on the part of the Nonconformists. 
By forged letters and secret agency they were charged 
with plots laid in thirty-six different counties. 
Undoubtedly, a spirit of passionate opposition to 
Government was simmering in many parts of 
England, and documents in the State Paper Office 
show that there was a readiness on the part of a 
few to fight for liberty again. But this was con- 
fined to members of the disbanded army, and to 
separatists who repudiated the connexion of the 
church with the State. The charge, as brought 
against the Presbyterians, was a transparent fidtion ; 
but, fi&ion as it was, it suited the temper of the 



176 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



times, stung the mob to fury, and furnished a 
pretext for the intended A 61. * 

At length, by a majority of six votes, the Com- 
mons passed the Bill for cc the uniformity of public 
prayer, and administration of sacraments, and other 
rites and ceremonies," &c, &c, in the church of 
England. After much discussion, the Lords con- 
curred ; — on May the 19th it received the royal 
assent, and was ordered, by strange fatality or 
daring defiance, to take effect from the feast of St. 
Bartholomew, August 24, 1662. One of the pro- 
visions of this A6t was, cc that before St. Bartholo- 
mew's day, every parson, vicar, or other minister 
whatsoever, should, on pain of deprival, declare 
openly and publicly his unfeigned assent and con- 
sent to everything contained in the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, to renounce the solemn league and 
covenant, to acknowledge that the oath taken to 
maintain it involved no moral obligation, and, 
further, to declare that it was unlawful, under any 
pretence, to take up arms against the King.""]* 
Those who were not clergymen, but only teachers, 



* Ample information respecting these sham plots may be found in 
the writings of Baxter, Oliver Heywood, Calamy, Rapin, John 
Locke, and also in Captain Yarrington's narrative, exposing the 
forgery, published in 1681. This last book I have not seen, but 
great stress is laid upon it by Calamy in the first volume of his 
Account, and also in his Letter to Archdeacon Echard, 171 8, p. 20. 

f The clause about the covenant was only in force until 1682. The 
clause about taking up arms against the King was suspended in 1688. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



177 



were, in case of non-compliance with the Aft, to 
be visited with heavy penalties. It was further 
ordered that a copy of the revised service-book 
should be printed and sent to every minister re- 
cognized by law, before the day appointed for 
giving it effedt ; but the issue from the press was 
so late, that not one in ten had an opportunity of 
seeing it. At the hour of decision, therefore, the 
large majority declared their Cf unfeigned assent and 
consent to all and everything" in a book which 
they had not seen.* About three thousand re- 
fused to subscribe ; and when the terms of sub- 
scription were fully known, about two thousand 
of these took their final station in the ranks of 
Nonconformity.*]" Thus the cloud burst, and 
the long-threatened rush of desolation came at 
last. 

The history of the two thousand men, who in 
this way cc nobly a6led what they nobly thought," 
was henceforth one of peril and solemn sorrow. 
Their loss of worldly means, their constant liability 
to persecution, and the consequent necessity of 
studying every method of concealment consistent 

* " Not one in forty could have seen it." — Locke's Works, vol. x., 
pp. 203, 204. 

f Baxter puts the number of the ejected and deprived as from 
1,800 to 2,000 — Life, p. 384. Calamy gives it as 2,400, including 
fellows of colleges not in orders. A catalogue in Dr. Williams's 
library gives 2,257 names. A manuscript by Oliver Hey wood 
gives 2,500. 

N 



i 7 8 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



with their convidtions of duty, made all this in- 
evitable. 

Some died broken-hearted ; some left the country ; 
some became physicians ; others, famous once, be- 
came private tutors, and were heard of in the world 
no more.* Many, with their families, had to 
exchange a life of refinement and competency for 
a life on the verge of starvation, gentlemen and 
scholars as they were. Many had to adopt the 
calling of farm-servants or artisans. Let one 
instance be accepted as a specimen. The lady of 
a country squire was dangerously ill. The clergy- 
man was sent for, but returned word that cc he was 
going out with the hounds, and would come when 
the hunt was over." cc Sir," said one of the 
servants to the affli6ied husband, cc our shepherd, 
if you will send for him, can pray very well ; we 
have often heard him pray in the field." The 
shepherd was immediately summoned to the side 
of the sufferer, and prayed with such astonishing 
pertinency and fervour, that when he rose from 
his knees, the gentleman said to him, cc I conjure 
you to inform me who and what you are, and what 
were your views and situation in life before you 
came into my service ?" Upon which he told him 
cc that he was one of the ministers ejeded from 
the church, and that having nothing of his own 



* *H ts9vt]K€v rj didaaicei ypdjjfjiaTa. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



179 



left, he was content for a livelihood to submit to 
the honest and peaceful employment of keeping 
sheep." * The good man was an Oxford master 
of arts ; in better days he had been noted as a 
Hebraist, and had been much revered by his 
brethren for his varied excellencies of mind and life. 
Several of his beautiful letters written in those days 
may be seen in Dr. Williams's library, and one of 
them seems to show that we owe to his suggestion 
Baxter's valuable autobiography. 

Some of these confessors were too old to sup- 
port themselves by such new modes of labour. 
The writer of these pages has before him a manu- 
script written by one of them in the winter after 
his ejection. f He was then in his seventy-ninth 
year, and had been for fifty years the honoured 
minister of his parish, but now he was a wanderer, 
without means of subsistence. He had been 
spoken of as cc one of the most eminent preachers 
of any age ;" but just before writing this letter, 
one of the magistrates had plucked his grey beard, 
and insulted him with epithets too foul to be 

* Peter Ince, of Brazenose College. This well-known story was 
communicated to Mr. Palmer by Mr. Josiah Thompson, who had 
often heard it related by Mr. Bates, an aged minister at Warminster. 
— Dr Rippon's Register, vol. iv., p. 338. The name of the country 
gentleman is there given as Grove 5 but this must have been a mistake, 
as Mr. Grove was a celebrated Wiltshire gentleman, mentioned in the 
Baxter MSS. as Mr. Ince's friend in the days of his prosperity. 

f Elkanah Wales, A.M , Trinity College, Cambridge. 

N 2 



i8o 



TEE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



repeated. It was no longer safe for him to remain 
in the distrid where he was known, and the rest of 
his days had to be spent amongst strangers ; yet 
his spirit was fresh and joyous as ever, and he could 
still write of himself and his wife as follows : — 
Cf We are in tollerable case for bodily health, save 
that this sharp, piercing weather doth pinch us and 
make us shrink ; but I hope after a little time it 
will grow warmer, and the air will become more 
calm and favourable to old, colde, thinne boddys." 

Most of these pastors felt that no human 
authority could free them from their ordination 
vows. Through the years of persecution occasioned 
by the A6t of Uniformity, and the successive 
penal enactments made to enforce it, they still 
assembled their scattered flocks for prayer. Such 
meetings would be convened by the Bristol pastors 
in some secluded spot under the open sky, far away 
from the city, the congregation sometimes drenched 
with the rain, sometimes standing in the deep 
December snow.* The Puritans at Andover met 
in a dell four miles from the town, or in a private 
residence which they would enter when their neigh- 
bours were asleep, and then, having fastened the 
door and window-shutters, and even extinguished 
the candle-light, lest its flicker might be discovered 
through a crevice by some spy without, — they con- 



Broadmead Records. 



THE ACrT OF UNIFORMITY. 



181 



tinued in prayer until the ray of dawn, slanting 
down the chimney, warned them away.* FlavePs 
congregation met at midnight in the hall of Hud- 
scot Manor-house ; other congregations met at the 
same hour in woods. All were in peril, but that 
of their leaders was of course the greatest. Habited 
like a husbandman, with a fork on his shoulder 
and a Bible in his pocket, the venerable Richard 
Chantyre used to set out in the twilight to his 
distant conventicle, thus contriving to evade the 
informers for years. f Other ministers adopted 
similar disguise ; but, after every expedient for 
secrecy and escape, there were few of these brave 
men who had not to suffer from hunger or the 
chain. 

This A61 still stands unchanged. To change it 
in any essential resped would be to shake the very 
foundations of Anglican episcopacy, for it is the 
political rock on which the church is built. No 
wonder, therefore, that the Adt itself should still 
have its defenders ; but we may well be surprised to 
find, as we do, that many good men still defend the 
very way in which it was first carried into effed. 
One of its modern apologists, having spoken of it as 



* Pearsall's Rise of Congregationalism at Andover, p. 94. 

f Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. iii., p. 244. Many facls like 
those just cited may be found in the above-mentioned works, and 
many more in the various records of old Nonconformist churches, 
as also in family papers and traditions. 



182 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



cc absolutely necessary/' adds, u on the passing of 
this Aft only 2,000 ministers who had appropriated 
to themselves the livings of the church, refused to 
conform. These 2,000 are much to be respedled 
for having a6ted on conscientious motives ; they 
followed the example which had been set them in 
the time of the rebellion by 7,000 clergy of the 
church of England. The excuse for the Govern- 
ment after the restoration is, that their condudt to 
the Nonconformists was lenient compared with that 
of the Presbyterians and Independents, when in 
power, towards the members of the church."* This 
language of a distinguished living clergyman is not 
meant to be unfair. It does but describe the trans- 
action as it is set forth in all the books from which 
men educated within the charmed circle of State 
orthodoxy, gain their knowledge of it. But even 
if, for the sake of argument, we admit the justice of 
his views, first, as to the province of the magistrate 
in matters of religion, and then, as to the duty of 
the State to establish episcopacy alone ; it strikes 
us as strange that such an accomplished historian 
should have fallen into the mistakes as to fa6l 
which disfigure this statement. We are obliged to 
think there is a mistake as to the fad of numbers. 
Every reader should know that Walker, whose 
work on the sufferings of the clergy is the ultimate 



* Hook's Ecclesiastical Biography. Art. Alleine. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



authority for nearly every assertion like this, has 
been convicted of often reckoning each clerical 
dignity and place as a separate clerical individual, 
— -that, for instance, if one clergyman possessed 
four dignities, these would be reckoned as four 
distinct sufferers — that the like is observable in the 
case of pluralists — and that by this ingenious method 
the chronicler has conjured up an army nearly 
8,000 strong.* Calamy says that we can only 
reckon about 1,700 whose sequestration was cer- 
tain and undoubted ; and the fa£fcs and calculations 
given by him and others of equally high credit, in 
support of such an estimate, should at least qualify 
our willingness to take on trust the statements of 
the romantic Dr. Walker. It is a mistake to speak 
of all the sequestered clergy as sufferers for con- 
science in reference to religion. Only a few were 
displaced for refusing the covenant, the one simply 
religious test ; the large majority suffered on fair 
evidence for vice, insufficiency, or resistance to 
Government. Martyrs indeed they were ; but if 
we may believe a royalist looker-on, cc Martyrs for 
Venus and Bacchus, more than for God and 
loyalty." Mr. Baxter says, that in all the counties 



* This is demonstrated in the following tracts : — Remarks on Dr. 
Walker's late Preface to his Attempt, &c, by John Withers, 171 7. 
Vindication of Dissenters from the Charge of Rebellion, 1719 
Calamy's Church and Dissenters Compared, 1719. Reply of Wither s 
to Agate j Appendix. All are in the British Museum Library. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



with which he was acquainted, cc six to one, at least, 
if not more, were by the oaths of witnesses proved 
insufficient, or scandalous, or both." # Fuller, the 
church-historian, declares Cf that many of their 
offences were so foul, it is a shame to report 
them."f The fads published by authority of 
Parliament all testify to the same thing. J It is a 
mistake to assume that the Nonconformist seces- 
sion was one of numerical insignificance. cc Only 
two thousand ministers were ejedted." But these 
two thousand ministers were thrust out of the 
church only because conscience made them un- 



* Life and Times of Baxter, p. 74. 

f Church History, Cent. XVII., Book xi., pp. 31- — 34. 

J The First Century of Scandalous and Malignant Priests, &c. 
Printed by order of the Committee of the House of Commons, by 
John White, chairman, 1643. "The introduction of Bills for the 
eviction of scandalous and inefficient ministers is pretty generally 
supposed to have been a contrivance of the Long Parliament for 
mere sectarian purposes. But this is an entire mistake. Laws of 
this kind, and bearing similar names, had been upon the statute-book 
ever since the first session of King James's first Parliament. In the 
Commons' Journals you may find records of such laws on the 22nd of 
June, 16045 in the sessions of 1 605 — 1606,1609 — 1610, 1620, 1627. 
The Long Parliament did but put into faithful execution Bills which 
the Court and the prelates had before systematically gagged." — Mr. 
James Waylen. The commissioners in the time of Cromwell were, no 
doubt, often guilty of executing such measures with great severity. 
But we should hear both sides, and if you read the tracts written to 
complain of this by some of the sequestered clergy, such as Mr. 
Bushnell, Mr. Gatford, Mr. Sadler, and Dr. Pordage, you should in 
fairness also read the answers to them. Most of them may be found 
in the British Museum. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



willing to conform. If conscience had allowed 
them to be willing, they might have remained in it, 
however tyrannical the conditions offered them were. 
It was left with their own conscience to accept or 
refuse those conditions, for none were excluded, as 
in the contrasted case, on account of moral or 
intellectual unfitness for their office. Their number, 
then, it must be asserted, was not small in com- 
parison with that of the clergy who had been pre- 
viously sequestered under corresponding circum- 
stances. It was not small in comparison with that 
of any similar secession in former days. Even one 
of their antagonists has said, cc It may be observed 
of the clergy of olde that in Henry the Eighth's 
time, they were first for the Pope's supremacy, and 
then for that of the King ; with King Edward the 
Sixth, they were all Protestants ; with Queen Mary, 
Papists again ; with Queen Elizabeth, they faced 
about, and of 9,000, only 400 stood firm."* We 
are inclined to think that this secession of 2,000 
clergymen, made voluntarily, and simply for the 
sake of principle, is a fa6t without parallel, and is 
the glory of Puritan history alone ; it certainly 
seems unfair to insinuate that it was comparatively 
an insignificant thing. There is also an obvious 
mistake as to the question of comparative leniency. 
The ejected Episcopalians were allowed a fifth part 



* Clerico Classicum, by John Price, 1648, p. 18. 



x86 



the act of uniformity. 



of their livings, on retirement ; — the ejeded Pres- 
byterians had no such allowance. So far from this, 
the terms of conformity were imposed before Michael- 
mas, when the payment of the year's tithes would be 
due ; they were therefore deprived of their last year's 
income, and in many instances reduced to absolute 
want.* Still further, to borrow the language of a 
clergyman, of that day, whose views on this subjed 
differ essentially from those of his brother divine 
just quoted, cc The plunderings and ravages of the 
church ministers were owing, many of them at 
least, to the rudeness of the soldiers and the chances 
of war ; they were plundered, not because they 
were Conformists, but because they were Cavaliers. 
.... Who can answer for the injustice of actions 
in a civil war ? . . . but these ministers were ejected 
not only in a time of peace, but in a time of joy to 
all the land, and after an A6t of Oblivion, when all 
pretended to be reconciled and made friends, and 
to whose common rejoicing these suffering minis- 
ters had contributed by their earnest prayers and 
great endeavours." f In honour to the church 
of England (we are still speaking as Anglicans), 
let us be slow to confess the shameful faith that it 



* St. Bartholomew's day was pitched upon, that, if they were 
thus deprived, they should lose the profits of the whole year, since 
the tithes are commonly due at Michaelmas. — Bishop Burnet, vol, i., 
p. 184, 

f Conformists'' First Plea, pp. 12, 13. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



187 



is essential for it to retain as its Magna Charta the 
A6t which Archdeacon Hare so righteously brands 
as <f that most disastrous, most tyrannical, and most 
schismatical Adt of Uniformity ; " but if, indeed, 
we must confess it — if, with the dean of Chichester, 
we feel compelled to say that it v/as cc absolutely 
necessary" to pass that Adt — absolutely necessary 
to exclude from the church-system sanctioned by 
the State a host of men called, by John Locke, 
cc worthy, learned, pious, and orthodox divines," — 
men who will ever be revered as chief among the 
creators of our noblest theological literature, — men 
so great and holy, that no true student of their 
books and lives can fail to see that in the former, 
they alone, among the men of their day, represented 
the first teachers of the English reformed church, 
and that in the latter, they alone represented its 
first martyrs — if we really do think all this was 
absolutely necessary in order to establish the church ; 
then, soul-struck with shame, let us at least deplore 
that the miserable expedient of necessity was not 
brought about in a more gradual and considerate 
way. Sentiments like these will be deepened as we 
remember the kind of men who remained, when 
the Puritans were gone. Take the account given by 
a beneficed clergyman, who wrote the year after the 
A61 of Uniformity came into force. In his tradfc 
the church of England is personified, and thus 
made to speak ; her first complaint is of undue 



i88 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 



ordination : — cc Of young men, I have a call of 
3000. . . . Those pulpits that were filled 
with ancient fathers are now desks for young chil- 
dren . . Of debauched men ordained I have 1500." 
. . . . Is there any need of authorizing 
patterns of impiety ? Alas ! a man at once a divine 
and a beast ! Consecrated to God, and devoted to 
sin ; an abomination in the holy place. . . Of 
unlearned men ordained, I am ashamed to see a 
roll of 426 tradesmen introduced in four years. 

Of factious ministers now ordained 1342, 
must a sad race of Dissenters run parallel with the 
orthodox succession. Alas, to see men once Pres- 
byterians, then Independents, now Episcopal ! Is 
a good living their only creed, and a good prefer- 
ment their only confession of faith ? * It was a 
miracle that Peter could convert 3000 at one ser- 
mon ; it's nothing now, that his Majesty hath con- 
verted such multitudes by the glance of his eye !" 
The church then complains with indignant elo- 
quence of the habits of the clergy, Cf Reverend in 
function, yet shameful in lives ! Ministers, yet 
given to wine ! In holy orders, yet in riotous dis- 
order ! Bound to walk circumspectly, and yet reel ! 



* By " a sad race of Dissenters," the clergyman means all the 
ministers who had been ordained to officiate in the Establishment 
during the twenty years preceding the A61 of Uniformity ; it 
appears that 1,342 of these now submitted to be ordained a second 
time 5 and he regrets that they were not all unconditionally ejected. 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. I 89 

Conversation in heaven, yet in alehouses and 
taverns ! Studying eternity, yet trifling away time ! 
In communion of saints, yet in the company of the 
scorner. I thought/' she continues, cc the late 
complaints of scandal were only from malice and 
hatred. Holy men excused you, but now you re- 
fute and contradict them. You must needs justify 
malice itself." She further says, cc Out of 1 2,000 
church livings, 3,000 or more are impropriate, and 
4,165 non-resident livings ; what a poor remainder is 
there left for a painful and honest ministry ! " * 

The argument was not all on the side of the 
ejeded ministers. They suffered cruel wrong, but 
it might have been shown that much of their suf- 
fering only resulted from the working of some of 
their own principles in other hands. In the opinion 
of most modern Dissenters, it might have been 
said to them, — You complain that Government has 
decided against the interests of true religion, but a 
representative Government can only represent the 
average ethical character of the people ; and until 
the people are truly religious, it is only likely to 
decide against the interests of true religion. Indi- 
vidually, or through their representatives, those 
who are not cc spiritual men," are not judges of 
spiritual things,"j~ and are of course utterly unquali- 



* Extracts abridged from a pamphlet called Ichabod ; or. Five 
Groans of the Church. Cambridge, 1663, f 1 Cor. ii. 



I 90 THE ACT OF U NIFORMITT. 

fied to legislate for the church as to what doftrine 
shall be trusted as true, what worship shall be 
observed as scriptural, and what discipline exercised 
as wise or holy ; if, therefore, they ever do venture 
to legislate in a province so foreign to their own life, 
it is only natural that the results should be like 
those you now deplore. You complain that the 
church is not at liberty to decide for itself in things 
relating to itself ; but when any church is connefted 
with a free State, it cannot itself be free. It may 
not appoint a minister, nor make a form, nor use a 
prayer, without permission. Though a heavenly 
thing, it must be ruled by an earthly thing ; that is, 
by worldly policy. Like everything else connedted 
with the State, it is so, that it may be ruled, and it 
may not rule the rulers. You complain of your 
ejedtion, but when in your official capacity you 
received State endowment, in justice to the nation 
you were, in that capacity, placed under State con- 
trol. From the nature of the case, your power 
depended on the life of a ruler, or on the trembling 
balance of a parliamentary majority. The State 
was your master ; every master may dismiss his 
servant when the services are no longer required. 
Your services were no longer required, therefore it 
is not of the fa6t of your dismissal that you should 
complain, but only of its circumstances. You com- 
plain that Episcopalians employ the powers of the 
State to enforce their ecclesiastical order on you ; 



THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY, I 9 I 

but you once employed those very powers to 
enforce yours on them. You complain of the 
demand for uniformity ; but some of you demanded 
uniformity. You complain of the schismatical 
spirit that excludes from the communion and 
ministry of the church, men like Baxter and Howe, 
on account of their Presbyterianism or Indepen- 
dency ; but some of you were guilty of exactly the 
same spirit, when you excluded such men as 
Bishops Hall and Taylor on account of their 
Episcopacy. Doubtless, the charge against the 
ministers of having helped the enforcement of uni- 
form worship ought to be greatly qualified. Under 
Cromwell, ministers of all denominations w 7 ere 
allowed to take part in the religious endowments of 
the nation. For political reasons alone, the forms 
of Episcopacy were forbidden, but even the Epis- 
copalian clergy shared the common privilege. 
They were not required to pledge their assent to 
anything contrary to their own peculiar tenets, they 
were only required to promise their obedience to 
the existing Government. Having taken such an 
engagement, multitudes exercised their ministry, 
and some even continued to use the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer.* Thus qualified, the charges now 



* A clergyman who lived in those times says, " 1 can reckon 
up many clergy that had livings in Cromwell's day in the City, and 
preached without any let. There were Dr Hall, Dr. Ball, Dr. Wilde, 
Dr. Harding, Dr. Griffyth. Dr. Peirson, Dr. Mossome, A. Faring- 



192 



the act: of uniformity. 



expressed might have been brought against some 
of the ministers with substantial justice ; but after 
all attempts to plead for the A61 of Uniformity as 
an a6t of imperious necessity, or of wise precaution, 
or of measure for measure, we are obliged to regard 
it as one of the most wonderful ads of wickedness 
ever wrought under pretence of supporting the 
cause of that kingdom which is not of this world. 



don, and many more, besides abundance in every county. 1 ' — Confor- 
mists'* Plea. These instances might be indefinitely multiplied. 
Doctor (afterwards Bishop) Bull used the liturgy at St. PhilipV, 
Bristol 3 Sanderson used it in his parish of Boothby Pagnell, and 
when informed against, a message was conveyed to him expressing 
the reluctance of those in power to abridge his liberty. — Izaak 
Walton. 



Chapter IX. 



'Back IBartfjolometo ana tfce Ctoo 

" Must I be driven from my bookes ? 

From house and goods, and dearest friends ? 
One of thy sweet and gracious lookes, 

For more than this will make amends I 
As for my house it was my tent, 

W hile there I waited on thy flock 
That work is done, that tims is spent, 

There neither was my home nor stock. 
Would I in all my journey have 

Still the same inne and furniture ? 
Or ease and pleasant dwellings crave, 

Forgetting what thy saints endure ? 
My Lord hath taught me how to want 

A place wherein to put my head ; 
While He is mine, Vll be content 

To beg or lacke my daily bread. 
Heaven is my roofe, earth is my floore, 

Thy love can keep me dry and warm, 
Christ and thy bounty are my store 

Thy angels guard me from all harm. 

O 



194 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



As for my friends, they are not lost ; 

The sever all vessels of thy fleet, 
Though parted novo, by tempests tost, 

Shall safelie in the haven meetT 

RICHARD BAXTER, I 66 2. 




|HE appearance of "Blade Bartholomew" 
at Taunton was ushered in by many- 
forerunners of evil omen. The day of 
delirious joy at the King's return was 
followed by many years of disaster. Most Chris- 
tian men of various professions had hailed the 
enthronement of a prince whose title was undoubted, 
whose rule might reconcile all parties, and whose 
sacred word, already pledged, might give to their 
Cf Gospel day" a security of continuance — the one 
thing it wanted. His public a<5ts soon woke them 
from their dream, and their loyalty was turned 
into gloomy estrangement, created by the King's 
treachery to the nation, and confirmed by the vin- 
dictive spirit of the successful party towards their 
own town. Before the first year was out, this was 
shown in an attempt, by means of a forged letter, 
to involve some of the most influential Noncon- 
formists there in the charge of a desperate plot 
against the new Government. 

Colonel Francis Basset, a Taunton Baptist, was 
the son of Admiral Sir Francis Basset, of Cornwall; 
a stanch friend to church and king, and a devoted 
lover of game-cocks ; who, no doubt, was as highly 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



*95 



exasperated by the degeneracy of his son, as Admiral 
Penn was by the unsound principles of William. 
It was pretended that the letter in question was 
written by this young colonel to a friend ; and the 
scheme was contrived with a view to ruin not only 
him and his provincial associates, but with them, 
certain eminent men of the same religious persuasion 
in London. Having referred to the death of the 
Princess of Orange, he is made to say — cc There 
are many that groan to see these times, and the 
King's unfaithfulness, and the breaking of his cove- 
nant, that they do not fear to do anything for their 
liberty. Therefore, pray brother Jesse, and as many 
as are at hand of the brethren, not to draw back their 
hands from doing the Lord's work ; for it is said by 
the Lord that f One shall frighten a thousand 
and, therefore, lay hold on the Lord s promise, for 
His word is true, and there are thousands of His 
saints who will be ready to lay down their lives to 
do the work of the Lord. We desire you to be 
careful to get into your hands powder and arms, 
as many as you can, between this and Easter. 

. I pray let this be shown to my brother 
Jesse and brother Kiffin."* The letter was in- 



* Letter from B. F. (Col Francis Basset) to Nathaniel Crabb, at 
his house in Gravel Lane. Taunton, 23rd Dec , 1660. Endorsed 
by Nicholas as received, 9th October, 1 65 1 j and the original 
delivered by Captain Will. Dale to the Lord General. It seems 
probable that this letter was intended to suggest a suspicion that the 

O 2 



196 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



tercepted ; Kiffin, Jesse, and Crabb were arrested, 
and their fate seemed to be hopeless. While the 
soldiers were guarding them to Serjeants' Inn, the 
place appointed for their examination, a great con- 
course of people gathered round the coach, crying 
out, cc Traitors, rogues, hang them all !" When, 
however, they were brought into the presence of 
Judge Foster, Kiffin triumphantly proved the docu- 
ment to be a forgery ; first, because it was dated 



Baptists were parties to Vernier's insurrection 5 but, according to 
Jessey, Vernier declared that there was not one Baptist in his party, 
and that if they succeeded, the Baptists should know that infant 
baptism was an ordinance of Jesus Christ. — Crosby's History. 
In 1 66 1, Jessey and the leading Baptist ministers signed a memorial 
to the King respecting Venner's insurrection, in which they say, 
" We appeal to the all-seeing God, the Judge of all the earth, to 
vindicate us. ... . In whose presence we protest that we 
neither had the least knowledge of the said late treasonable insurrection, 
nor did any of us, in any kind or degree whatever, directly or indi- 
rectly, contrive, promote, assist, abet or approve the same." — Thomas 
Grantham, Christianismus Primitivus, book iii., chap. i,p. 9. Besides 
the paper discussed above, others are preserved at Whitehall with 
reference to supposed plots among the country Baptists. — Katherine 
Hurlestone to Secretary Nicholas, 6 February, 1661. Papers by 
Nicholas on Mr. Ratcliffe. Sir John Finch to Lord Conway, and 
other documents among the State Papers for 1661. It is just possible 
that these were not all forgeries. There were then living many persons 
made mad by oppression, beclouded in their judgment by their train- 
ing in the school of war, and still further misled by the then too 
common habit of taking precedents of action from the stories of a 
repealed economy, and the martial achievements of faith wrought by 
" Gideon and Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David also, and Samuel 
and the Prophets and it is not unlikely that some of these persons 
were ready to draw the sword for liberty. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



I 9 7 



three days before the Princess died ; next, because 
the interval between the time of her death and the 
time of their arrest, was too short to allow of a 
letter to be sent from London to Taunton with the 
tidings from the Court, and then for a letter to come 
from Taunton to London in consequence.* Never 
was the father of lies convifted of a more artless 
oversight, or a more unaccountable lapse of memory. 
Perhaps the excuse was, that he never before had 
so much bewildering work upon his hands. The 
case was clear ; the prisoners were acquitted ; the 
Somersetshire people were of course also cleared of 
the charge, and went their way exultant, but burn- 
ing with a stern indignation. 

This letter is to be seen in the State Paper 
Office, but without any marginal intimation that it 
is a detedted forgery. Attention has just been 
called to it by the new Catalogue of the Series of 
Domestic Papers relating to the opening events in 
Charles the Second's reign. Most likely some 
writers are preparing to use it, and others like it, 
as evidence to justify the proceedings of the Carolist 
Government against the Nonconformists ; but let 
the fa6t just related be a warning against trust 
in such documents as independent materials of 
history. 

The people of Taunton continued to suffer from 



* Remarkable Passages in the Life of William Kiffin, pp. 28 — 32. 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



the malice of their adversaries. In the year 1662, 
they received stroke upon stroke of outrage. First 
came news of the insults offered to the body of 
their own dead hero, Admiral Blake. It had been 
buried in Westminster Abbey, as a distinction due 
to one whose name will ever be one of England's 
glories. It had been followed thither by Taunton 
men, all filled with venerating love bordering on 
worship ; but now, by order of the Council, it was 
torn from the grave and flung with many other 
bodies into a pit in St. Margaret's churchyard. 
They were not afraid of Blake now! Living or 
dead, it was an honour to any man to be disowned 
by that base age ; but, at the time, the intended 
indignity alone was felt. Next came the order 
for the demolition of their town- walls. To mark the 
King's displeasure at the part the people took in 
the wars of the Parliament, those walls to which 
they had been accustomed to point with pride, and 
which had witnessed that noble defiance of despotic 
power, whose wonders, it has been said, cc would 
give life to a story that should outlive the world," * 
were so effectually levelled, that the present in- 
habitants are unable to trace where they stood. 
Next came the law which displaced the members of 
their corporation, and along with it came the 
rumour of an impending enactment, which soon 



# Savage's History of Taunton, p. 423. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



came in force, depriving them of their municipal 
charter. At last came the A6t of Uniformity, 
which robbed them of their two beloved ministers. 

<c Before the A6t of Uniformity came forth/' 
writes Mrs. Alleine, " my husband was very 
earnest, day and night, with God, that his way 
might be made plain to him, and that he might not 
desist from such advantages of saving souls with 
any scruple upon his spirit. He seemed so mode- 
rate, that both myself and others thought he would 
have conformed — he often saying, that he would 
not leave his work for small and dubious matters ; 
but when he saw those clauses of assent and consent , 
and renouncing the covenant L , he was fully satisfied. 
But seeing his way so plain for quitting the public 
station he was in, and being thoroughly per- 
suaded of this, that the eje6tion of the ministers 
out of their places did not disoblige them from 
preaching the Gospel, — he presently took up a firm 
resolution to go on with his work in private, when 
his ministry in the church had ceased." cc Blessings 
brighten as they take their flight," and most precious 
to him were his few remaining opportunities of 
preaching in the great congregation, and carrying 
on his work from house to house as a lawful 
minister. He worked as one who knew that the 
night was coming when, perhaps, he might no 
longer work ; and in this spirit he delivered a 
course of sermons — his last from the church 



200 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



pulpit — on the words, Cf Redeeming the time, 
because the days are evil."* So evil were the 
days, and so vexed with interruptions, that the 
ministers were obliged to anticipate the time of 
ejection appointed by the State, preaching their 
farewell sermons on the Sunday before. 

The wild love and keen sorrow felt by thousands 
on that final day never can be told. What Mr. 
Alleine said has not been reported, but we know 
that in the evening the old pastor preached from 
the words of Paul, cc I am persuaded, that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate us from the love of God, which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord."j- As in every other 
farewell sermon preached on that Sunday, and sur- 
viving to our own times, there was an utter absence 
of party spirit, of any attempt to excite pity for 
the preacher, or anger against his enemies, and the 
personal allusions were few, simple, manly, and 
dignified. cc It is good," said he, cc to part with 
each other in the consideration of that, from which 
those that are God's shall never be divided, that is, 
c the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' .... 
As to the particular divine providence now ending 
our ministry among you, whatever happeneth on 



* Ephesians v. 16. 



f Romans viii. 38, 39. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



20 1 



this account, let it be your exercise to cry out for 
the Holy Spirit of Christ, and He will grant you a 
greater support than you may expedl from any man 

whatever The withdrawing of this present 

ministry may be to cause you to pray for this Holy 
Spirit, day and night ; and Christ promiseth that the 

Father will give it to them that ask it If 

I cannot serve God one way, let me not be dis- 
couraged, but be more earnest in another. You 
may also think it is a time for you to exercise what 
you have learned. God is calling you to see if you 
have not lost all the advantages He hath allowed 
you ; c Ye have been a long time learning] He is 
saying to you, c let me now see what you can now 
do or endure" If you have forgot all, Christ hath 
made a promise, c the Spirit shall bring again to 
remembrance ' when there is occasion for it. Con- 
sider, also, Christ is touched with a feeling of the 
infirmities of a people in such a condition. Let 
none of you be troubled in your heart ; you believe 

in God, believe also in Christ Jesus He 

hath promised to give you pastors according to His 
own heart, that shall feed His flock with truth and 
with understanding. He can find one, or frame 
one, that shall fulfil His ministry better than this 
weak instrument. He is the great Bishop of our 
souls, and is never non-resident, and hath always a 
care of His flock. Let not your hearts be troubled, 
but let us commend you, yea, each other unto God > 



2,02 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



and let Him do what is good in His eyes. Let us 
pray." 

THE PARTING PRAYER. 

cc To thee, O Lord Jesus, we commend our- 
selves : to thee, who judgest rightly, thy poor 
servant resigneth and committeth this congrega- 
tion. The Lord pardon unto me wherein I have 
been wanting to them : the Lord pardon unto them, 
wherein they have been wanting in the hearing of 
thy Word, that we may not part with sin on our 
hearts. Unto thee who judgest uprightly, I com- 
mend them. The Bishop of souls take care of 
them ; preserve them from the love of the world ; 
teach them to wait on thee, and to receive from 
thee whatever any one, or any family, may stand in 
need of. 

" Provide them a pastor according to thine own 
will ; only, in the meantime, give us of that anoint- 
ing which shall lead us out of our own will and 
wayes, that we may walk in the wayes of the Lord 
Jesus. The Lord Jesus say now unto them, c I 
am your Shepherd, you shall not want.' Say to 
them, as thou didst to thy disciples, c Let not your 
hearts be troubled ; you believe in the Father, 
believe also in me.' So far as we are able, we put 
thy name upon them ; we name the name of the 
Lord Jesus over them. The Lord Jesus bless 
them ; teach them to follow holiness, peace, and a 
heavenly conversation. The Lord make them use- 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



203 



ful to each other. The Lord Jesus be a blessing 
to them, to me, and to all ours. The God of 
peace and consolation fill them with blessings, 
according as thou seest every one to stand in need 
of. To thee, O Father, we commend them ; do 
thou receive them, that, under thy counsel, they 
may be preserved blameless until the day of Jesus, 
when we may all meet, crowned with glory. 
Amen." 

On the Sunday after the ejection, divine service 
was performed in the parish church according to 
the restored ceremonial. Crowds came to witness 
it, for in the large population of the town and the 
near hamlets there were now many who, from 
various motives, were eager to show that they had 
no sympathy with the Nonconformists. The ex- 
citing scene was described in a letter that was sent 
the next day to the Mercurius Publicus, which is 
here reprinted for the first time after an oblivion of 
two centuries : — 

"Taunton, Monday, August 25. 
" The parish of Taunton in Somersetshire, being desti- 
tute of a minister to preach, &c, by the nonconformity 
of Mr. Newton,* a very worthy gentleman, Mr, Thomas 
James (late of All Soule's Colledge, in Oxford), yester- 
day being St. Bartholomew's day, supplied his place. 
The neighbour gentry purposely were there present, and 



# Mr. Alleine is not mentioned, because he was only an assistant. 



204 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



Mr. James being furnisht with the Book of Common 
Prayer, church vestments, &c, according to the late A£t 
of Parliament, read the whole service for Morning and 
Evening Prayer, and christened two children accordingly, 
and (I cannot but acquaint you) the whole town was 
present, behaving themselves as if their minister had 
carried away with him all faction and nonconformity. 
The church was so very ful that severall persons swounded 
with the heat ; and to the honour of this town I cannot 
but mind you, that 'tis very observable that a people that 
have been so ill-taught as they have been, should now 
obey his majesty and the church according to the Acl: of 
Parliament without the least hesitation. The mayor and 
aldermen were all in their formalities, and not a man in 
all the church had his hat on either at service or sermon, 
which gave the gentry of that county great satisfaction, 
who (to do them justice) deserve thanks for their care 
and vigilancy in setling the church and county according 
to the laws established. "* 

Affairs being thus vi&oriously C€ setled," the 
church was closed for many weeks successively ; and 
although, after that, a public service was held at 
rare intervals, the parish had no resident minister 
for the next nine months. 

From a station of ancient and well-merited fame 
Mr. Newton was flung at once into obscurity and 
contempt. He was insulted by name, along with 



* This letter also appeared in the " Kingdom's Intelligencer " of 
the same date. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



205 



others, in a lampoon written by the author of 
Hudibras, with a view to ridicule the pretensions 
of Englishmen to liberty of conscience.* He 
might have said, Cf Now they that are younger 
than me have me in derision, whose fathers I would 
have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." 
When scorn and peril first gathered round him, 
he seems to have lost heart. For a year or two, 
he sought concealment in the houses of various old 
friends in London. There let us now leave him, 
with the prospedt of meeting again before writer 
and reader part. 

Meanwhile, we have to trace the steps of Mr. 
Alleine. On the 21st of August, being the 
Thursday after his farewell services in St. Mary's, 
he appointed a day of solemn humiliation. What 
immediately followed will be best related in the 
language of his widow : — fC On the solemn day 
of humiliation, he preached to as many as would 
adventure themselves with him at our own house ; 
but, it being then a strange thing to the most pro- 
fessors to suffer, they seemed much affrighted at the 
threatenings of adversaries ; so that there was not 
such an appearance at such opportunities as my 
husband expe&ed. Whereupon he made it his work 
to converse much with those he perceived to be 



* A Proposal humbly offered for the Farming of Liberty of 
Conscience, by Samuel Butler. Folio sheet. Guildhall Library. 



2o6 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



most timorous, and to satisfie the scruples that were 
on many amongst us ; so that the Lord was pleased 
in a short time to give him such success that his 
own people waxed bold for the Lord, and His 
Gospel. And multitudes flocked into the meet- 
ings, at whatsoever season they were, either by 
day or night ; which was a great encouragement 
to my husband, that he went on with much 
vigour and affe&ion in his work, both of preach- 
ing, and visiting, and catechizing from house to 
house. 

cc He went also frequently into the villages and 
places about the towns where the ministers were 
gone, as most of them did fly, or at the least 
desist for a considerable time after Bartholomew 
day. Wherever he went, the Lord was pleased 
to give him great success ; many were converted, 
and the generality of those were animated to cleave 
to the Lord and His ways. 

" But by this the justices' rage was much 
heightened against him, and he was often threatened 
and sought for ; but by the power of God, whose 
work he was delighted in, was preserved much 
longer out of their hands than he expedted. For 
he would often say, if it pleased the Lord to grant 
him three months' liberty before he went to prison, 
he should account himself favoured by Him, and 
should with more cheerfulness go, when he had 
done some work. At which time we sold off all 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 20J 

our goods,* preparing for a gaol, or banishment, 
where he was desirous I should attend him, as I was 
willing to do; it always having been more grievous 
to me to think of being absent from him than to 
suffer with him. 

cc He also resolved, when they would suffer him 
no longer to stay in England, he would go to 
China, or some remote part of the world, and 
publish the Gospel there." 

This last statement brings to mind an interesting 
fa6l. The first Nonconformists were, in England, 
the originators of Christian missions to the heathen. 
When they officiated in our national churches, they 
were the first who preached and collected money 
for the work of evangelizing the Indians in America; 
and w 7 hen they were cast out of those churches, 
they still burned with zeal for the same enterprise 
on a wider scale. cc There are many here, I con- 
jecture," wrote Baxter to Eliot, cc who would be 
glad to go anywhere — to the Persians, Tartarians, 
Indians, or any unbelieving nation — to propagate 
the Gospel, if they thought they could be ser- 
viceable ; but the difficulty of their languages is the 



* Some few articles were reserved ; among these was a clock, 
which the writer has often seen at the house of the Rev. John 
Bayly, late vicar of Chilthorne, Somerset. This gentleman 
claimed relationship to Alleine by collateral descent ; and the family 
relic in question had been bequeathed to him, with the charge " that 
he should never part with it unless he wanted bread." 



208 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



great discouragement."* It was Baxter "who 
obtained, through one of his most zealous disciples, 
the charter which incorporates the original Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel." f 

The idea of missions was treated by the party in 
power with infinite scorn. It could not be understood 
by men without souls, — they were only disposed to 
speculate on the sanity of those who entertained it. 
Basil Kennett, lord bishop of Peterborough, thus 
commented on the missionary spirit of Alleine and his 
companions : — cc Even some (the Nonconformists) 
had a strong impulse, which they termed a call, 
to go abroad and propagate the Gospel. Thus, Mr. 
Joseph Alleine, deprived for nonconformity from 
Taunton St. Mary's, in Somerset, at length re- 
ceiving a third call for the propagation of the 
Gospel, he would by all means, forsooth, go into 
China to do it ! But, being dissuaded by the 
brethren, he fed the flock of God's people in 
private." J Had he gone to China, he would have 
become the Protestant Xavier. 



* Baxter MSS. 

\ Sir James Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography, vol. i., p. 31. He 
adds in a note : — " The Society which now bears that name is an 
institution of later date, founded on the model of that for the esta- 
blishment of which Baxter laboured, and designed to supersede it j 
just as the National School Society followed on the British and 
Foreign School Society, or King's College, London, on the London 
University. " 

J Kennett's Register, December, 1662. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



For nine months immediately following his 
ejection he went on with his work, often threatened, 
yet never a6tually interrupted. cc In these months/' 
continues Mrs. Alleine, cc I know that he hath 
preached fourteen times in eight days, ten often, 
and six or seven ordinarily, at home and abroad, 
besides his frequent converse with souls ; he then 
laying aside all other studies which he formerly 
so much delighted in, because he accounted his 
time would be short. The Lord, as he often told 
me, made his ministry far more easy to him by 
the supplies of His Spirit both in gifts and grace, 
as was evident both in his doftrine and life, he 
appearing to be more spiritual and heavenly and 
affedtionate than before. The example of his re- 
solution made the people grow so bold that they 
came in great multitudes, at whatever season the 
meetings were appointed, the same persons coming 
generally twice a Sabbath, and often in the week." 

John Wesley, grandfather of the illustrious 
founder of Methodism, was his enthusiastic fellow- 
labourer. He had been ejected from his benefice 
at Whitchurch, in Dorset; and from the nth of 
March this year until the beginning of May, he 
was preaching almost every day, dividing his time 
between Mr. Alleine's people at Taunton and Mr. 
Norman's at Bridgewater, also occasionally minis- 
tering to congregations of Baptists and Independents 
at both places. 

p 



2 IO 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



Mrs. Alleine says : — 

" On Saturday, the 26th of May, about six 
o'clock in the evening, my husband was seized on 
by an officer of our town, who would rather have 
been otherwise employed, as he hath often said, 
but that he was forced to a speedy execution of the 
warrant by a justice's clerk, who was sent on 
purpose with it to see it executed, because he feared 
that none of the town would have done it. 

Cf The warrant was in the name of three justices, 
to summon him to appear forthwith at one of their 
houses, which was about two miles from the town ; 
but he desired liberty to stay and sup with his 
family first, supposing his entertainment there would 
be such as would require some refreshment. This 
would not be granted, till one of the chief of the 
town was bound for his speedy appearance. His 
supper being prepared, he sat down, eating very 
heartily, and was very cheerful, but full of holy and 
gracious expressions, suitable to his and our present 
state. After supper, having prayed with us, he 
with the officer, and two or three friends accom- 
panying him, repaired to the justice's house, where 
they lay to his charge that he had broken the Adt of 
Uniformity by his preaching ; which he denied, saying, 
c That he had preached neither in any church, nor 
chappel, nor place of publick worship, since the 24th 
of August ; and what he did was in his own family, 
with those others that came there to hear him.' " 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



21 I 



" When that would not do, they accused him of 
being at a riotous assembly, although there was no 
business met about but preaching and prayer. 
Then he was much abused with many scorns and 
scoffs from the justices and their associates, and 
even the ladies as well as the gentlemen often called 
him rogue, and told him that he deserved to be 
hanged, and if he were not, they would be hanged 
for him, with many such like scurrilous passages,* 
which my husband receiving with patience, and his 
serene countenance showing that he did slight the 
threatenings, made them the more enraged. They 
then urged him much to accuse himself, but in 
vain. Having no evidence, therefore, yet did they 
make his mittimus for to go to the gaol on Monday 
morning, after they had detained him till twelve at 
night ; abusing him beyond what I do now dis- 
tinctly remember, or were fit to express." 

cc As soon as he returned, it being so late, about 
two o'clock, he lay down on the bed in his clothes, 
where he had not slept above two or three hours at 
the most, but he was up, spending his time in con- 
verse with God, till about eight o'clock ; by which 
hour several of his friends were come to visit him ; 



* This style of conversation was common amongst the ladies after 
the Restoration. A curious confirmation of this appears in the Life 
of Col. Hutchinson, whose wife says, " Scurrilous discourse, even 
among men, he abhorred.' 1 — Life, p. 34. Bohn. 

P 2 



212 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



but he was so watched, and the officer had such a 
charge, that he was not suffered to preach all that 
Sabbath, but spent the day in discoursing with the 
various companies that came flocking in from the 
town and villages to visit him ; praying often with 
them, as he could be permitted. He was exceed- 
ing cheerful in his spirit, full of admiration of the 
mercies of God, and encouraging all that came to 
be bold, and venture all for the Gospel and their 
souls, notwithstanding what was come upon him 
for their sakes. For, as he told them, he was not 
at all moved at it, nor did not in the least repent 
of anything he had done, but accounted himself 
happy under that promise Christ makes to His, 
in the 5 th of Matthew, that he should be doubly 
and trebly blessed now he was to suffer for His 
sake ; and was very earnest with his brethren in the 
ministry that came to see him, that they would not 
in the least desist when he was gone, that there 
might not be one sermon the less in Taunton ; and 
with the people, to attend the ministry with greater 
ardency, diligence, and courage than before ; assu- 
ring them how sweet and comfortable it was to him 
to consider what he had done for God in the 
months past ; and that he was going to prison full 
of joy, being confident that all these things would 
turn to the furtherance of the Gospel, and the glory 
of God. 

" But he not being satisfied to go away, and not 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



213 



leave some exhortations with his people, appointed 
them to meet him about one or two o'clock in the 
night, to which they showed their readiness, though 
at so unseasonable a time. There was, of young 
and old, many hundreds ; he preached and prayed 
with them about three hours. 

"Heprayedfor his enemies, as the martyr Stephen 
did for those that stoned him, f That God would 
not lay this sin of theirs to their charge.' The 
greatest harm that he did wish to any of them was, 
c That they might throughly be converted and 
sanctified, and that their souls might be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus.' 

"And so, with his yearnings towards his people, 
and theirs towards him, they took their farewell of 
each other — a more affectionate parting could not 
well be. 

"About nine o'clock he, with two or three friends 
that were willing to accompany him, set out for 
Ilchester ; the streets being lined on both sides 
with people, and many following him on foot 
several miles out of the town, with such lamenta- 
tions that (he told me after) did so affect him, that 
he could scarce bear them ; but the Lord so 
strengthened him that he passed through them all 
with great courage and joy, striving both by cheer- 
ful looks and words to encourage them. 

cc He carried his mittimus himself, and had no 
officer with him. When he came to the gate of 



214 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



the prison, finding the gaoler absent, he took that 
opportunity of preaching once more before he 
entered, which was afterwards considered a great 
aggravation to his former crimes. When the 
gaoler came, he delivered his mittimus, and was 
clapped up in the Bridewell chamber, which is over 
the common gaol. He found there Mr. John 
Norman, who, for the like cause, had been com- 
mitted a few days before him."* 

Crowded in this one apartment night and day, 
he, with his companions, spent the next four 
months. Fifty Quakers were there, seventeen 
Baptists, and very soon thirteen ministers were 
brought, all taken like himself, for the high crimes 
of preaching and prayer. The stifling atmosphere 
was made more stifling still by the many visitors. 
The summer sun struck fiercely on the roof all 
day, and so low was the roof-tree, that at night, 
when lying on their mattresses, they could touch 
the glowing tiles. Gasping for life, they had 
sometimes to break the glass, or rend away one of 
the tiles for air. Night and day they had but the 
same scanty accommodation ; their beds were their 
only tables, and all the privacy that they could 



* Mrs. Alleine's Narrative, thus given, does not appear in full in 
any single edition of the " Life and Letters." After the first edition, 
some of the facts were suppressed from prudential motives, and for 
other reasons, at different times, other facts were added. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



215 



contrive, was made by a mat drawn across the 
room. Night and day their ears were stung by 
the songs, the curses, and the clanking chains of 
the felons in the cells below. If they ventured out 
of their deadly vapour-bath into the prison court, 
besides these sounds, they were still more afflifted 
by the sights of loathsome and pestilential wretched- 
ness that crossed their path, for the criminal 
prisoners were sure to be all there too. When 
they rushed back to their chamber, and sought 
peace in united prayer, sad to say, they were dis- 
turbed by some of their associates in suffering for 
conscience sake. Mrs. Alleine says, that fc the 
Quakers would molest them by their cavils in the 
times of their preaching, praying, and singing, and 
would come and work in their callings just by them, 
while they were at their duties." 

A few words seem needful both to account for 
the condudl of these poor men, and to describe the 
circumstances of their imprisonment at the same 
time with Mr. Alleine. It is plain that they mis- 
represented the true principles of Quakerism. The 
essence of the system seems simply to be, that the re- 
ception of Christ into the heart is the grand essential 
to salvation. Christ, it is said, does at some period or 
other visit the heart of every man, for He is the true 
light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. This inward light may be resisted ; but if re- 
ceived, it will develope itself in a life of righteous- 



2l6 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



ness,and the man who thus receives Christ will be jus- 
tified, not indeed by his own works, but by the works 
of Christ within him. This life is the truth, even the 
Scripture itself being regarded as secondary and 
subordinate to it — the mere declaration, not the 
fountain, and only known to be Scripture by the 
central testimony of the Spirit. For this reason, 
all worship must be offered from the immediate 
dictate of the Spirit of Christ. Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper must be taken inwardly, not out- 
wardly, and true religion owns no outward appara- 
tus, no outward law, or outward force. It was 
natural for such a system to arise at such a crisis 
in the history of religious thought. Honest George 
Fox, its founder, was guiltless of taking the idea 
from Origen, or the Neo-Platonists, although it 
glimmers in some of their speculations. He had a 
deep spiritual nature, that felt unsatisfied on the one 
hand with the teachings of the Puritans, who too 
often made religion look like mere mechanical 
obedience to the letter of the Scripture ; on the 
other, with the dogmas of the Laudists, who made 
it look like a ceremony. Extremes beget extremes, 
and in re-a6lion from that cc bodily exercise which 
profiteth little," he adopted and proclaimed what 
seemed to look like the religion only of a disem- 
bodied spirit. George Fox was often right in his 
assertions, but often wrong in his denials ; noble 
truth was honoured, but there was also the error 



AND THE TJVO MINISTERS. 



2IJ 



which results from truth pushed too far. To speak 
with the utmost charity, and to say the very least 
that may seem severe, there was danger of slighting 
the historic fads of Christianity. There was danger 
lest a theory so delicate and so intensely inward 
should be misunderstood by followers of coarser 
natures than his own. There was danger lest the 
religious inquirer should make his last appeal, not 
to his Bible, but to himself. It was easy for many 
a well-meaning though ignorant man to mistake 
the working of his own impulses for the mystic 
illapse of the Spirit, and the inward language of 
nature for the whispers of grace. A spirit which 
he thought was from heaven would often move him 
to interrupt the public worship in the steeple- 
house ; to insult the ministers in the streets ; to 
scream out frantic announcements of coming wrath 
upon the land, or to go about in some fantastic 
habit for a sign. The do&rine of the inward light 
often seemed in its adlual workings to be simply 
the dodtrine that every man may do and ought to do 
what seems right in his own eyes, whatever law may 
say to the contrary. Of course it attracted many 
of the disbanded Cf Levellers," and many mutinous 
and discontented persons, who used the system as a 
mere outlet for the spirit of contradiction, or a mere 
pretext for insolence to men in authority. As 
Quakerism had not as yet formed a distinct Chris- 
tian community, it had no organic laws by which 



2l8 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW 



it could exclude or disown those who knew nothing 
of its nature, but who did much evil in its name. 
These men often suffered as the disturbers of the 
public peace, and they deserved to suffer. It must also 
be allowed that even the good men with whom they 
conne&ed themselves, often did things with a reli- 
gious meaning, which were punished by the magis- 
trates, not on religious grounds, but as the same 
things would be punished now — that is, simply as 
sins against society. Yet it must not be denied 
that a very large proportion of the sufferings en- 
dured by the Quakers was purely for their views of 
Christian principle ; and that it was infli&ed in a 
spirit of insane hatred to that principle in whatever 
form it appeared, but more especially when in the 
form of demur to the church establishment. This 
hatred was now heightened by alarm at the rapid 
growth of Quakerism. By the year 1680, it had 
reached a numerical strength equal to about one 
person in 130 of the general population ;* at the 
period of which we are writing it was already 
immense, and the instances of imprisonment were in 
proportion. Five thousand Quakers were now in 
bonds.t 

At Ilchester, besides the fifty in ward with Mr. 

* Rowntree, p. 76. 

f Sufferers in prison before the Restoration, 3,179 ; sufferers since 
the King came in, 5,000. — Address to the King and Both Houses 
of Parliament, 1661. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



219 



Alleine, thirty-one were confined in an old monastic 
building at the other end of the town. These, one 
of their pamphlets informs us, "were taken from 
the highways, from the plough, from their houses, 
were kicked, beaten, and wonderfully abused ; they 
were not suffered to have provisions brought them, 
and the gaoler denied them permission to see their 
wives and children. Many clothiers were taken 
away that set many families to work, and some had 
been driven by horsemen into ditches, some into 
pools, to the endangering of their lives."* 

Chief in this company of sufferers was John 
Anderdon,-)- a gentleman of Bridgewater. He was 
a thoughtful and learned man, one of the earliest 
professors of the tenets taught by Fox, and both 
by tongue and pen one of their most animated 
advocates. Eight of his works, all written in 
prison, now lie before the present writer. When 
Alleine came to Ilchester, this gentleman was fet- 
tered to a felon with iron chains ; and with five 
other Quakers, fettered to five other felons, was 
often dragged along the streets with pitiless cruelty. 
He lived twenty years in prison, and there at last 
he died. We must pardon such poor men for 



* Pamphlet 4,230 in the Library at Devonshire-house 5 title — 
This is to thee, O King, and to thy Council, and all the Officers 
and Magistrates j 1660. 

f Tanner's Lectures on the History of Friends in Somerset. 



220 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 



their treatment of our own beloved confessor. Life 
had not been to them a school of chivalry. They 
had only known controversies where both parties 
used rough, strong language, asked for no quarter 
and gave none. They had only seen the worst 
side even of the best men. After all, many of 
them were men of heroic piety ; and if some of 
them, in their treatment of the ministers, displayed 
all the frenzy of zeal without knowledge or charity., 
we must remember that the Quakers, who had 
treated Bunyan, cc one of Gog's army,"* in a similar 
way, afterwards did him a kind service when it 
came within their power, and that most likely they 
would have done the same for Alleine. He called 
them cc railing Rabshakehs," and they called him 
iC a murthering priest ;" but if they had been free 
they would have spent much and travelled far to 
release him from his bonds, still testifying to the 
last, that he was cc a deceiver of the stock of 
Ishmael and the seed of Cain." 

When Mr. Alleine arrived at the prison, his 
first aft had been to preach and pray, and this he 
called cc holding a consecration service." Subse- 
quently, and to the last, he and his companions 
in turn preached and prayed publicly once, and 
sometimes twice, every day, the minister generally 
speaking through the prison-bars to the congrega- 



# Term applied by Burrowes the Quaker to Bunyan. 



AND THE TWO MINISTERS. 



221 



tions that flocked from the various villages within 
a distance of ten miles.* All the rest of the day 
he constantly spent in converse with those who 
thronged to him for counsel and instruction ; and 
in consequence of this, says Mrs. Alleine, he was 
forced to take much of the night for study and 
secret converse with God. 

The vitiated atmosphere and staring publicity of 
the prison-life made it peculiarly hard to one who 
so loved the bright morning air, and had been 
accustomed to be so much alone with God in the 
woods and fields. We are glad to hear that he 
was soon permitted to curtain off a corner of the 
room all to himself. It was large enough to hold 
his bed ; and as Mrs. Alleine had resolved to share 
his imprisonment, this little triangular space was 
not a little luxury. After a few weeks he was 
suffered to walk out for a mile or more into the 
country, morning and evening, though sometimes 
interdicted by the passion of the keeper. His 
friends brought supplies of money and abundance 



* The imprisoned ministers did the same in many other places. 
A Stuartine poet complains that the Nonconformist 
" Commits himself to prison to trepan, 
Draw in and spirit all he can $ 
For birds in cages have a call 
To draw the wildest into nets, 
More prevalent and natural 
Than all our artificial pipes and counterfeits."" 

Pindaric Ode on a Hypocritical Nonconformist. 



222 



BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 



of wholesome food. His health continued good 
and his spirit elastic, and Cf the voice of rejoicing" 
was often heard in that "tabernacle of the righteous/' 
Ilchester Gaol. 

Mrs. Alleine says: — "On the 14th of July, 
he was brought to the sessions held at Taunton, 
and was there indidled for preaching on May 17 th ; 
but the evidence against him was so slender that 
the grand-jury could not find the bill. So that 
he was not brought to his answer there at all ; and 
his friends hoped he should have been dismissed, 
it being the constant practice of the Court that if a 
prisoner be indided and no bill found, he is freed 
by proclamation. However, my husband was sent 
to prison again at the assizes, and to his friends, who 
expe&ed his enlargement, he said, c Let us bless 
God that His will is done.' " 



Chapter X. 



Crial at Caunton Castle. 

" Though wrong in justice-place be set. 
Committing great iniquitie 5 
Though hypocrites be counted great , 
And still maintain idolatrie $ 
Though some set more by things of nought 
Than by the Lord that all hath bought : 
Blame not my lute. 

" Blame not my lute, I you desire, 
But blame the cause that <we thus play 
For burning heat blame not the fire, 
But him that bloiveth the coale airway ; 
Blarney e the cause, blame ye not us, 
That <we mens faults ha<ve touched thus : 
Blame not my lute" 

JOHN HALL'S DITTY ON THE WICKED STATE AND ENORMITIES OF 
MOST PEOPLE IN THESE PRESENT MISERABLE DAIES. 

IS judge at the Taunton assizes was 
Sir Robert Foster,* lord-chief-justice 
of England. Cf After the Restoration/' 
remarks Lord Campbell, cc it was con- 




* Western Circuit— Mr. Justice Foster and Mr. Serjeant Archer, 
Taunton Castle, August 24. — Mercurius Publicus, Thursday, July 
9th, 1663. 



224 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



sidered necessary to sweep away the whole of the 
judges from Westminster Hall, although they were 
learned and respectable men. Immense difficulty 
was found in replacing them. ... At last, 
a chief-justice was announced, and his obscurity 
testified the perplexity into which the Government 
had been thrown in making a decent choice. He 
was one of the few survivors of the old school 
of lawyers which had flourished before the troubles 
began. He had been called to the degree of 
serjeant-at-law on the 30th of May, 1636, at a 
time when Charles the First, with Strafford for his 
minister, was ruling with absolute sway, — was im- 
posing taxes by his own authority, — was changing 
the lav/ by proclamation, and hoped never again 
to be molested by Parliament."* In his obscurity 
he might have been thought a man of mean but 
negative character ; but now, to borrow a metaphor 
which has been applied to another worthy, he had 
passed the chrysalis state, in which he was only a 
kind of intermediate grub between sycophant and 
oppressor, had put off the worm and put on the 
dragon-fly. It was Judge Foster who brought 
about the convidion and execution of Sir Harry 
Vane. He had treated the Quakers with fierce 
cruelty, and his present object was to exterminate 
all nonconformity. 



* Lives of the Chief-Justices, vol. i., p, 493. 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



225 



The barrister who engaged to take the lead in 
the defence was Mr. Thomas Bampfield, brother 
to Sir John Bampfield of Poltimore. He had 
been a member of many Parliaments, speaker to 
the House of Commons in Richard Cromwell's 
time, and for some years recorder to the city of 
Exeter. The gentlemen of the west appointed him 
to carry their "Remonstrance" to encourage General 
Monk in bringing back King Charles.* In reli- 
gious opinion, like his learned brother, f he was a 
Baptist. Baxter says of him, <c He was a man 
of most exemplary sincerity and conscientious- 
ness. He never took an oath in his life, till he 
was a member of the Parliament that brought in 
the King, and then he was put upon taking the 
Oath of Supremacy, which I had much ado (he 
being my much dear and valued friend) to persuade 
him to, so fearful was he of oaths, or anything 
that was doubtful, and like to sin." J Latterly, 
this spiritual sensitiveness seems to have been 
attended by great nervous susceptibility ; therefore, 
cc though a very considerable lawyer, he was wont to 
give his advice at home, and did not appear at the 



* Vindication of Dissenters. — John Withers, 17 17, p. 60. Also 
State Papers, 1660. 

f Francis Bampfield, M.A., of Wadham College, Oxford. For 
Christ's sake he suffered many years' imprisonment in various gaols, 
and in 1683, died in Newgate. — Crosby's History of Baptists. 

t Reliquiae Baxteriana, lib. 1., part ii , p. 432. 

0- 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



bar."* His friendship for Alleine tempted him for 
once to break this rule. Accustomed from birth 
and office to an honoured place among the calm 
grandees of England, but now scorned, vilified^ 
suddenly ruined, just discharged from prison for 
nonconformity, he certainly had to plead his friend's 
cause amidst great disadvantages. f 

The account of Mr. Alleine's trial, given in his 
own handwriting, is still preserved amongst the 
Baxter manuscripts in Dr. Williams's library ; and 
such is its minute finish and precision as a report, 
that it almost brings us into the presence of the 
judge. We seem to see the venomous glitter of 
his eye, and to hear the snap of his quick, short, 
sharp, testy sentences. This document has been 
little heard of, and perhaps never read, since old 
Richard Baxter brightened his spectacles, and drew 
nearer the light, the better to decipher its small 
and delicate lines. It is best, perhaps, to give 
it entire, although it touches on some fads which 
have been already related. 

MR. ALLEINE'S CASE. 

Joseph Alleine was taken up May 23, 1663, 

* Life of Rosewell, p. 63. 

•f* There seems to be a reference to this gentleman's friendship in the 
following passage from Alleine's letter to kC Pylades." " I find some 
jealous passages in thy last lines. But canst thou think that T. B. 
can be put in ballance against my old friend, my own, my covenant 
Py lades ?" 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



227 



by a warrant from M. Clarke and M. Sydenham ; 
and being then accused of preaching, he was by 
them and M. Hawley charged for breaking the 
Ad for Vniform (worship), (although the said 
Joseph never preached in any publique place :) as 
alsoe for being at a riotous assembly ; although 
there were noe threats nor dangerous words, noe 
staves nor weapons ; noe feare so much as pre- 
tended to be strucke into any ; noe other unlawful 
businesse met about than to pray for the King's 
Majesty, themselves, and the peace of the nation, 
and to instruct the people (that came in with his 
own family) their duty to God and their soveraigne ; 
and prevent those discontents that might arise 
from their being left quite like heathens ; the 
meetings at which he was, not being where there 
was anything done at the church, noe minister 
being settled in the towne for three-quarters of a 
yeare together, nor any service of God at all in the 
publique congregation for very many weeks suc- 
cessively. After his committment, strenuous 
endeavours were used to get evidence of the fa<5fc, 
and several were menaced to sweare against him. 

At the sessions, held July 14, he was endi&ed for 
preaching on May 17, (when there was no worship of 
God morning or evening in the publique place, the 
said Joseph being well-knowne to be a frequenter of 
the church, when there was any minister to officiate 
there.) The grand -jury did not find the bill; 

0.2 



228 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



whereupon he expedled to be freed, according to 
law and justice, but could not obtaine it, though 
others on the same businesse, their bills not being 
found, were acquitted. Nor could the saide Joseph, 
upon his earnest petitioning to the judge and 
benche, obtain the favour soe much as once to be 
called, or to appeare before the Court to say a 
word for himselfe. Yet a justice of peace upon 
the benche at the assizes did complaine that he was 
a most obstinate man, and that although they sent 
for him three or four times, he would not come to 
them at the sessions, when he was said to be sent for 
to the Court. 

At the assizes, when he was againe brought 
forth, all possible endeavours were made to get 
evidence against him, and because none could be 
found in Taunton that could be depended upon, 
they sought for it at Bridgewater, where there 
were sundrie persons that were suspe6led to be able 
to give evidence against him, sent for by warrants, 
but got out of the way, onlie some malicious per- 
sons came, and offered to give evidence, but were 
rejected, as insufficient in their testimony. Here- 
upon, they who had imprisoned Alleine, seeing how 
much their credit was at stake to prove somewhat 
against him, since he had bin in prison three 
months by their meanes, hunted up and downe, and 
sent officers for those that were suspedled to be 
able to give evidence, many of whom got out of 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 22^ 

the way, and three men were committed to prison 
by the judge for refusing to give evidence. Strange, 
that a man should be three months in prison, and 
then that men should be to seek for, to give 
evidence against him ! 

Proofe being still short, one of the justices that 
imprisoned Alleine came to a fellow prisoner, and 
desired him to give evidence against Alleine, which 
if he would doe, he himself might fare the better in 
his cause. To another he came, and tolde him 
that he was a young man, and capable of prefer- 
ment, and that it lay in his power to doe them a 
courtesy, by giving evidence against Alleine ; and if 
he would doe it, he should have the favour of the 
gentlemen of the Court. What sinister endeavours 
were used with others, afterwards follows as taken 
from their owne mouthes ; but when all these vigo- 
rous attempts would not availe to get more 
evidence (which lasted from Monday till Wednes- 
day in the afternoone), they resolved to put to it 
with what little they had. Wednesday night, 
Alleine was called for. 

Clerke. — Thou art here indicated by the name of 
Joseph Alleine, for that on the 1 7 th day of May, 
1663, thou with twenty others, to thejurours 
unknowne, did by force of armes, unlawfully, 
routously, riotously, and seditiously assemble 
and segregate yourselves together, contrary 



23O TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 

to the peace of our soveraigne lord the King, 
and to the great terrour of his subjects, and the 
evill example of all others. What saist thou, 
Joseph Alleine, guilty or not guilty ? 
Alleine. — My lord, before I plead to this indid:- 
ment, I desire to know upon what account 
I now stand as a prisoner here, ifbr I have 
bin endifted for this very thing at the ses- 
sions, and was acquitted by my country, and 
yet (I know not by what law) returned to 
prison againe. 
Judge. — If there were any such indidment, or 
proceeding, it would appeare. Where is any 
such thing to be found ? 

Note. — That my lord had, in court, long before 
this, called for a coppy of Alleine's indi£tment at 
the sessions, and upon reading of it was very angry 
with the clerke, and said it was erroneous in 
omnibus^ and fined him, and blamed the justices 
about Alleine's indictment, who put it off from 
one to another, and none would owne it \ and 
moreover was heard to say, as it was thought 
in Alleine's case, that u iff he were a divell he 
should have justice." 

Alleine. — My lord, I endeavoured for a coppy 
of the indictment and could not obtaine it, but 
I shall be ready to prove before your lordship 
by the oathes of the grand-jury, that I was 
acquitted ; and I beseech your lordship, as you 
are counsell for the prisoner, to declare whether 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



231 



a man may be indicfted for that of which he 
hath bin acquitted. 

Judge. — If a man be acquitted for a fa6l committed 
yesterday, and commit the same againe to- 
morrow, shall he expedfc any benefit by plead- 
ing his being acquitted for the former offence ? 

Alleine. — My lord, that is not the case ; for this 
indidtment was for the very same day, and 
is for the very same thing, for which I was 
acquitted at the sessions. 

Judge. — That does not appeare. 

Alleine. — My lord, I have offered to prove it by 
the oathes of the grand-jury, if you would 
accept it ; and I beseech your lordship to call 
for the records of the session, and there you 
shall find the indidtment recorded, and the 
ignoramus entered. 

But this was angrily rejefted. 

Alleine. — I beseech your lordship to enquire of 
M. Hunt, who was judge of the sessions, 
and he will be able to informe your lordship 
that the bill was not found. 

But this would not be granted neither, but he 
required Alleine to plead presently guilty or 
not guilty, or else he would forthwithe pro- 
ceede to judgement againste him. 

Alleine. — If I must plead to such an indi&ment, 
my answer is, that as for preaching and pray- 
ing, which is the truth of the case, if this be 



23 1 TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 

to be guilty, I am guilty ; but for riotous, 
routous and seditious assemblies, I abhor them 
from my heart, and am a loyall subjedt of his 
Majesty. 

Judge. — This is the manner of you and your 
brethren, you go for to cast dirt upon the 
Government, as if they were against preaching 
and praying. Sir, preaching and praying are 
good, but under pretence of these you 
seduce the people, and gather proselytes, and 
it is against your rogueish meetings that we are. 

Alleine. — My lord, I am humbly glad to heare 
your lordship declare that praying and preach- 
ing are not crimes. 

Judge. — Sirrah ! sirrah ! what doe you goe for to 
catch me ! I said not soe ; but I tell you that 
it is not against praying and preaching that 
we are, but against doing it in such a manner, 
in private conventicles, in a seditious way. If 
you will pray, there is the house of prayer for 
you. 

Alleine. — My lord, I was expressly indi&ed for 
preaching and praying the last session. 

Judge. — J cannot stand to hear you prate ; plead 
guilty or not guilty. 

Alleine. — Not guilty. 

Clerke. — Then prepare for your answer to-mor- 
row morning. 

Thursday morning Alleine was sett again 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



to the fellon's bar, and they proceeded to his 
try all. 

Alleine. — My lord, I make it my request to your 
Honour that I may have liberty to enter my 
traverse* to prosecute it the next assizes. 

Judge. — That you shall, but then you must pro- 
vide me sureties to prosecute it next assizes, 
and get good security, that you will be of the 
good behaviour in the meantime. 

Alleine. — As for securities to prosecute my tra- 
verse, I shall be ready to give them ; but for 
the good behaviour, I desire your lordship to 
excuse me ; for I understand that is not usuall 
in this case, and I beseech your lordship not to 
turne the water out of the constant course 
where it hath ever run. 

Judge. — I must tell you that you are a fellow of 
such evill fame, and I have received such 
information of you, as are sufficient grounds 
for my requiring the good behaviour. 

Alleine. — Your lordship hath noe eyes to see, 
nor eares to heare, but what is brought here 
before you, in the publique judicature ; and if 
any will make it here appeare that I have 
broke the good behaviour, I shall be ready to 
give sureties. 

Judge. — The grand-jury have found you guilty, 



* Traverse — to arrest judgment. 



^34 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



and that is sufficient for me to require the 
good behaviour of you. 

Alleine. — My lord, that is not sufficient ground, 
because I have bin already acquitted of that, 
for which they have prosecuted me ; and I 
beseech your lordship will not require the good 
behaviour of me for that of which I have bin 
already acquitted. 

Judge.— Noe such matter. 

Alleine. — My lord, I doe here offer your lordship 
in the face of the Court, and avow it before 
my countrey, that I am ready to bring the 
grand-jury now, to prove it upon their oathes, 
that I was acquitted ; which this grand-jury 
might not know. 

Judge. — Sirrah ! will you charge such worthy 
gentlemen that they did they know not 
what ? 

Alleine. — My lord, I said not that they knew not 
my case at all, but that they might not know 
I had bin already acquitted of that for which 
they have now prosecuted me. 

Judge.- — I must have the good behaviour of you 
(with much passion). 

Alleine. — My lord, I have done nothing but 
what belonged to my duty as a minister. 

Judge. — When were you made a minister ? 

Alleine. — Eight yeares since. 

Judge. — By whom ? 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



^35 



Alleine. — By the Presbytery. 

Judge. — Who gave them power to ordaine? 

Alleine. — My lord, they have that power by 

virtue of their office, as they are ministers of 

Christ. 

Judge. — Your ordination is nothing worth ; you 
are noe minister. 

Alleine. — My lord, I hope you will not assert 
that which shall overthrow all the ministry of 
the whole Christian Protestant world, except 
here in England ; for your lordship is not 
ignorant that they have no other ordination 
than by the hands of the Presbytery, just as I 
have. And for my ordination, I shall be 
ready to maintain it before any whom your 
lordship may appoint. 

Judge. — You are no minister of England, of the 
church of England. 

Alleine. — I will undertake to show that in the 
judgement of many, very many bishops and 
archbishops of the church of England, ordina- 
tion by the Presbytery is valid. 

Judge. — I cannot stand here to heare you prate in 
your self-confidence ; you love to heare your- 
selfe talke. Will you give me security for 
your good behaviour or not ? 

Alleine.— If you will have securities for my good 
behaviour, I desire your lordship to explaine 
what you meane by this good behaviour. 



236 TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 

Judge. — You fit to be a minister, and not know 
what belongs to the good behaviour ! How 
can you preach to others and not know what 
that meanes ? 

Alleine. — My lord, what is vulgarly understood 
by the good behaviour I know, and in that 
sense I shall be ready to give securities for it ; 
but if your lordship by this intends to bind 
me from my duty, and that which belongs to 
my office as a minister, I cannot yielde to it. 

My lord being very angrie, the jaylour 
pulled M. Al'eine away ; but he desired, as he 
was being pulled backe, that if his lordship 
would not accept of his offers, he might put it 
upon present issue. But the clerke speakes 
softly to my lord, in the hearing of a friend, 
that the evidence was yet very short, and soe 
his lordship was not ready to heare Alleine. 
Whereupon he called out a second and a third 
time that he desired to have it put upon 
present tryall. Then my lorde spake to the 
clerke, cc Let us then try it presently." So 
Alleine was put to the barre againe. The 
first witnesse was John Lake. 

J. Lake. — Once since Christmas, I went to M. 
Alleine' s house to see one that had formerly 
liv'd with me ; and when I came, I heard him 
preach in his family. 

Judge. — Were there none but his own family ? 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



*37 



J. Lake. — I know not who were there, but there 
were many families that did live with him 
under the same roofe. 

Alleine. — My lord, I desire that counsell may be 
heard in my case. 

Judge. — With all my heart ; where are your coun- 
sell ? 

Alleine. — I desire they may be called. 
Judge. — Do you looke that I should call your 
counsell ? 

Alleine. — No, my lord, I desire the cryer. 

Cryer. — I warrant you have Bampfield. 

Alleine. — Call M. Sidderson and M. Bampfield. 
It must be noted that the day before, M. 
Bampfield, being seen in the Court, Sir Hugh 
Wyndham, foreman of the grand-jury, spake 
in M. B.'s hearing to the judge — "We are in- 
formed that here is a councellour in the towne, 
that is come to plead for the ministers, who 
is an excommunicated person, a Nonconfor- 
mist, &c, &c. I desire to know of your 
lordship, whether we shall present him or 
indicft him ?" Judge — "Which you will, and 
God's blessing on your hearts." — This was 
thought to be done to affright M. Bampfield 
from appearing ; and he not coming, in a 
cause wherein he was expe&ed (upon some 
weighty reasons), it was said by some that 
they had frighted away Bampfield; but as soon 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



as he came into the Courts the judge spake to 
him very angrily, cc M. Bampfield, I must 
tell you, before you plead for another — I must 
tell you, that you had need answer for your- 
selfe. You are here presented to me, for being 
a Nonconformist to the churche of the land, 
and an abettour of Nonconformists." M. 
Bampfield answered, Cf My lord, to that charge 
I shall answer in due time and place." 

Alleine. — I desire my first witnesse may be heard 
againe, before my counsell. He was heard, 
and afterwards another witnesse was called, by 
name George Tweagle. 

Tweagle (in a hurry'). — Upon the 17th day of 
May, I went to M. Alleine's house, and there 
I hearde the singing of a psalme, and that 
was alle. 

Judge. — Were there none there but of his own 
family ? 

Tweagle (pulleth at his front hair, in sign of 

reverence. ) — Yes. 
Judge. — How many doe you thinke ? 
Tweagle. — I thinke there might be twentie there. 
Judge. — Were there not forty there ? 
Tweagle. — I thinke there were. 
Judge. — Were not sixty there ? 
Tweagle (looketh simple). — I thinke there were sixty. 
Judge {mildly). — Come, come, old man, speake 

the truth and shame the divell ; never goe 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



*39 



to helpe a lame dogge over a stile ; were there 
not eighty there ? 

Tweagle (in like mild manner}. — Sure, I thinke 
there might be eighty there. 

Master Bampfield. — Upon the oath that you 
have taken, did you see M. Alleine there ? 

Tweagle (thunder eth out). — Noe. (A pause). 

Bampfield (foolishly). — Did you heare him there? 

Tweagle. — I cannot sweare I did ; but I believe 
it was his voice. 

Bampfield (somewhat nervous). — My lord, it 
will come to this point in law, whether it can 
be rout, riot, or unlawful assembly, according 
to the indi&ment, there being no appearance 
of any fForce, which the law determines to be 
necessary to every one of these — ffor a riot, I 
conceive — a riot is when three or more do 
meet — and by fforce — ffor some unlawful aft. 
A riot, I conceive — a riot is when they meet 
and move towards it — an unlawful adt by 
fforce.* 



* What Mr. Bampfield really meant to say may be inferred from 
the following opinion with reference to another case. It is copied 
from a MS. ' in his handwriting, and preserved in Vol. V. of the 
Baxter MSS. (Treatises) : — " A riot by common law, is when three 
or more doe any unlawful a6l j an unlawful assembly, is when three 
or more assemble to commit a riot, and doe not commit a riot. In 
both cases I conceive the act done, or to be done, ought to be such 
as has force accompanying it 5 but I think, beyond doubt, to make it 
riot, the unlawful acl: ought to be actually done, or else 'tis no riot 5 



240 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



Judge (measuring M. B amp field with his eye). — 
You conceive and conceive, but all the country 
knows that M. Bampfield's conceptions are 
none of the wisest. A meeting to do that 
which is not allowed by law, is an unlawful 
assembly. 

Bampfield. — My lord, this is not my single 
opinion, but all the bookes that I can meet, 
do make a force to be necessary to that which 
in law is called an unlawful assembly. My 
Lord Cooke, Marrow, and many authours 
were now cited, and he repeated the evidence 
above-mentioned to the jury, showing them 
that here was noe appearance of force, but only 
peaceable serving of God in instructing the 
family with others, and singing with them, and 
soe he should leave it upon their consciences 
whether they could find it according to the 
indiftment, for an unlawful assembly. 

Before the jury went out, the judge spake 
to them to this effedt : — 

Judge. — You have heard what the witnesses have 
sworne ; and though the evidence be not so 
full, I desire you to remember, that the grand- 



and if the act be not done, 'tis but an unlawful assembly and no riot, 
which difference between a riot and unlawful assembly is manifest, 
and ought not to be confounded. " — Legal Opinion (T. B.'s) on Bail. 
As in Alleine's case no unlawful force was intended, attempted, or 
actually used, there was no rout, riot, or unlawful assembly. 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



jury have, partly upon the evidence, and partly 
on their own knowledge, found him guilty, 
and they are upon their oathes as well as you. 
'Retirement of Jury. — While the jury were out, 
it was confidently thought in the Court that 
Alleine would be found Cf Not guilty ;" and 
the sheriffe said to a friend of Alleine's 
excusingly, cc However shorte these witnesses 
are now, they swore more to the purpose 
yesterday." 

Verdict. — The jury quickly brought in Alleine 
Guilty. Mr. Bampfield asked, cc What ! 
guilty according to the evidence of the indict- 
ment? They answered "guilty of the indict- 
ment" 

Clerke. — In the afternoone, Alleine being set to 
the barre, was asked by the Clerke what he 
had to say why judgment should not be pro- 
nounced ? Mr. Alleine said that he desired 
his counsell might be hearde. 

M. Bampfield. — Then M. Bampfield urged 
the invalidity of the indidlment, for that in 
every good indidlment of the kind, three or 
more of the rioters ought to be named, for 
want of which this was essentially erroneous. 
Many more things he urged, but was, with 
much passion, overcome in all. 

Clerke. — Then the Clerke asked Alleine whether 
he had anything further to say. 



242 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



Alleine. — My lord, I am glad that it hath ap- 
peared before my countrey, that whatever I am 
charged with, I am guilty of nothing but 
doing my duty ; all that did appeare by the 
evidence being, that I had sung a psalme, and 
instru&ed my family (others being there), and 
both in mine owne house ; and if nothing 
that hath been urged will satisfy, I shall with 
all cheerfulnesse and thankfulnesse accept what- 
soever sentence your lordship shall pronounce 
upon me, for so good and righteous a cause. 

Judge.— Inasmuch as you are the bell-wether of 
a naughtie flocke, and a ringleader of evil 
men ; and this county, and especially this 
place, are noted for these seditious meetings, 
by reason whereof the King and the Counsell 
are in many feares, and new warres like to be 
hatched, and as you doe, insteade of repenting, 
aggravate your fault by your obstinate car- 
riage, the judgment of the Court is that you 
be fined a hundred markes, and lie in jayle 
till you have paid it, and given security for 
the good behaviour. 

Alleine. — Glory be to God, that hath accounted 
me worthy to suffer for His Gospell ! 
And soe he drew off the barre. 

Note. — The evidence upon which Alleine 
was found guilty at the assizes, was the very 
same upon the insufficiency whereof he was not 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



found guilty at the sessions ; J. Lake and G. 
Tweagle being the only witnesses in both 
cases. What handsome attempts, in their want 
of evidence, were used to get it, further 
appeares by this that is subjoyned. 

John Lake saies that he was threatened by 
J. W. and R. H., that if he would not take an 
oathe against Mr. Alleine for preaching divers 
times since Bartholomew day, they would send 
him to gaole, swearing awfully in their talke. 

Tweagle saithe that he was vehemently urged to 
sweare before the justices, and that they used many 
arguments with him, both by persuasions and 
threatenings. Among the reste that noe dammage 
should come to him, for which they offered to lay 
downe ^5. But if he would not sweare, he should 
lose Sir William Porteman's* custome, and Mr. H. 
saide he would rid him out of the lande. 

Mr. Norman was next placed at the bar. The 
following is a specimen of what passed between him 
and the judge in the course of the trial : — 

" Sirrah, do you preach ?" 

" Yes, my lord." 

cc And why so, sirrah ?" 



* " Sir William Portman 5 in hopes to be a lord, much priest- 
ridden." — Andrew Marvell. List of principal Labourers in the great 
designs of Popery and Arbitrary Power. Amsterdam, 1677. 

R 2 



244 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



" Because I was ordained to preach the Gospel." 

cc How were you ordained ?" 

Cf In the same manner as Timothy." 

" And how was that ?" 

cc By the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 

The judge said to himself, in a musing way, 
cc Ordained like Timothy ? Timothy ?" He had 
met with a person of that name somewhere, but 
now, not being able to recal the particular case 
referred to, he prudently changed the subject. Still, 
the question troubled his mind, and shortly after, 
when a gentleman called at his lodgings on business, 
Sir Robert kept him waiting two hours in an ante- 
chamber. On his appearance cc he gave for his 
excuse that he had been searching his books about 
an odd answer a fellow made him in the West, who 
told him that he was ordained like Timothy, by the 
laying on of the hands of the presbytery, which he 
could make nothing of." 

Calamy says, that cc although Mr. Norman was 
a man of a very grave presence and carriage, the 
judge treated him very roughly." After he had 
been thus roughly addressing him, and at the same 
time pouring unmeasured contempt on other Non- 
conformist ministers, Mr. Norman cc with great 
gravity told him that their learned education in the 
university, and holy calling in the ministry, not 
stained with any unworthy adion, merited good 
words from his lordship, and better usage from 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



2 45 



the world." This woke up a fresh tempest of 
inveftive. " Sir/' answered the prisoner, "you 
must ere long appear before a greater Judge to give 
an account of your anions , and for your ratling on me, 
the servant of that great Judge!' Perhaps Mr. 
Norman saw the shadow of coming death on the 
face of the poor old man who glared upon him, 
trembling and white with passion — this was only a 
natural perception ; but when the judge died sud- 
denly on the circuit, in little more than a month 
after,* the country people remembered the speech, 
and called it a prophecy. 

On his way back to Uchester Gaol, whither he 
was taken in pursuance of a sentence like Alleine's, 
the officers insisted upon stopping to rest at the 
sheriffs house. Lady Warre, the sheriffs wife, 
came to look at the prisoner and to insult him with 
cruel taunts. Among other things, she said, " Mr. 
Norman, Where is your God now ? " f c Madam," 
he replied, cc have you a Bible in the house?" 
" Yes ; we are not so heathenish as to be without 
a Bible." A Bible was brought, and turning to 
the prophecies of Micah, he read the words — 
cc Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy ; when I 
fall, I shall rise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lord 
shall be a light to me. I will bear the indignation 



* Sir Robert Foster died 4th of October, 1663, and was buried at 
Egham in Surrey. 



246 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him ; 
until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for 
me : He will bring me forth to the light, and I 
shall behold His righteousness. 'Then she that is 
mine enemy shall see it> and shame shall cover her 
which said unto me> Where is the Lord thy God ? 
Mine eyes shall behold her ; and now shall she be 
trodden down as the mire in the streets."* The 
lady retired in silence, and cc the dealings of God with 
the family not very long after," adds the narrator, 
cc made this to be remembered." These two inci- 
dents will serve to show the half-superstitious re- 
verence in which many of the people regarded the 
sufferers. They looked upon them as the people 
of Scotland did upon the martyrs of the covenant, 
who were often supposed to speak in cc something 
like prophetic strain." They saw in them the 
cc spirit and power" of the old seers, of whom they 
were daily reading — the same sandlity — the same 
intense life — and it would have been no surprise 
to find that in some awful moments they were 
gifted with the same strange intelligence. This 
disposed them to hear as prophecies, words that 
were only meant as warnings ; and stories of things 
that mysteriously came true, just as they had pre- 
dicted, long haunted the country-side. It was 
partly owing to this, in a few cases at least, that 



* Micah vii. 8, 9, 10. 



TRIAL AT TAUNTON CASTLE. 



247 



witnesses against them were found with so much 
difficulty. Many were "willing to wound, but 
afraid to strike." Hundreds of men in Taunton, 
haters of the Gospel, who might have appeared 
against Alleine, hung back — some indeed from 
shame, some from a sense of honour, but some 
from <c fear of a judgment." Sudden calamity, it 
was said, had often lighted on informers, and it had 
been known to come in fulfilment of something the 
persecuted men had spoken. 



Chapter XL 

s 

Doings in fleeter <®ml 

" Though men may keep my outward man 
Within their locks and bars, 
Yet by the faith of Christ I can 
Mount higher than the stars" 

JOHN BUNYAN'S PRISON HYMN. 

LCHESTER, says an old chronicler, 
cc is a little town in no wise remarkable, 
save that it sendeth two burgesses to 
Parliament." This statement does it 
injustice. It is remarkable for its historical prison. 
It is remarkable for having had there, in Protestant 
times, and simply for proclaiming Protestant truths, 
without the permission of a Protestant State, some 
of the best ministers of religion known in any age. 
It has the honour of having been the scene of more 
imprisonment for righteousness' sake than most other 
country towns were, during the same period of time 
— the time when, in the language of John Bunyan, 




DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



cc Those who had most of the spirit of prayer were 
all to be found in gaol ; and those who had most 
zeal for the form of prayer were all to be found at 
the alehouse." The scandal of this distin&ion, if 
there be any, rests with those in whom the respon- 
sibility centered, but the glory belongs to Ilchester. 

After the assizes, the prisoners were greatly 
multiplied. Mr. Alleine and his friends were placed 
in their old chamber, where they suffered all their 
old grievances. Amidst the clatter and tinkle of 
tools plied by industrious Quaker fingers cc for a 
sign," and the war of crossing voices at the same time 
raised against them "for a testimony," they re- 
sumed their old engagements. The ministers still 
continued to preach, generally through the window- 
grate; but this part of the labour was now 
lightened, owing to the greater number who could 
officiate in turn. The names of the preachers 
cannot now be all ascertained ; but amongst them, 
besides those already given, were the following : — 
Mr. Stephen Coven, late redor of Sanford Peveril, 
then well known by his book called cc The Military 
Christian. — Mr. Thomas Powell, M.A., late of 
St. SidwelPs, Exeter, an Independent minister, 
author of several works still highly valued. — Mr. 
Humphrey Phillips, M.A., of both universities, 
and fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford ; he 
had already been in the prison several months, 
and, several months after this, he was taken one 



250 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



snowy day to the prison at Wells, where he was 
put into a chamber which he said was " like unto 
Noah's ark, full of all sorts of creatures." — Mr. 
Henry Parsons, a learned man, who, like South, 
had been episcopally ordained by one of the 
deprived bishops ; but who, not having South's 
flexible principles, could not give unfeigned assent 
and consent to all and everything in the new Book 
of Common Prayer. The usual consequences fol- 
lowed. He was not imprisoned with the others at 
the summer assizes ; but one day, some time after, 
the door opened and he dropped down among them 
— wet, soiled, ghastly, and marked with blood. 
He had been serving Aileine's bereaved people at 
Taunton, and had now been brought to the gaol 
diredl from a numerous congregation to which he 
had been preaching. The officers had pulled him 
from his horse at the beginning of the journey, 
and by strokes of their riding-whips had driven 
him along the rough road on foot. — Mr. Tobias 
Willes, one of the Baptist ministers at Bridge water, 
who, writing at the time to the churches at Chard 
and Wedmore, thus expressed himself: "For our 
profession we are now in bonds, as many of our 
fellow-brethren are ; yet notwithstanding do hope 
that the Gospel shall no whit suffer loss thereby, 
but shall more abundantly break forth in power 
and purity, and shall run conquering and to con- 
quer. Oh, brethren, go on, though you are in the 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 2$ I 

wilderness, look to the cloud of God's presence ; 
we have no cause to discourage you from what 
we find, for God is very good to us. Here 
strangers do not intermeddle with our joys ; we 
have liberty in bonds ; yea, the greatest liberty is 
here. Therefore, brethren, do not fear, gird up 
the loines of your minds, and be sober and hope to 
the end ; trim your lamps, see that each has oil in 
his vessel, for the night is upon us, and at mid- 
night there was a great cry made, c Behold the 
bridegroom cometh!'"* The name of one more 
minister was on this illustrious roll-call, and he was 
the Nestor of the company, who on many accounts 
deserves more particular attention. 

This was Mr. John Torner, M.A., late parish 
minister of North Cricket. In the war he had been 
chaplain to the regiment of Sir John Fitzjames. So 
highly was he esteemed by Mr. Edmund Prideaux, 
attorney-general to the Long Parliament, that at 
the commencement and close of every session the 
two friends used to spend a day of prayer together. 
He was now nearly seventy, but still sound in body 
and strong in spirit. In religious decision, stern, 
straightforward, fearless ; in natural temper, hope- 
ful and cheerful ; in bodily presence, if the picture 
before our minds be correct — 



* Letter from Ilchester Gaol in 1663, signed by Tobias Willes 
and S. Wade. — Baptist Register. 



2$2 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



(e A man of glee, 
With hair of glittering grey ; 
As blithe a man as you could see 
On a spring holiday." 

Old as he was, he seemed to retain all the fire of 
youth, and could lift up his voice like a trumpet. 
The roll of that great voice was amazing. It was 
unquestionably a rare gift ; but as Nonconformist 
ministers were commanded to be silent, he hardly 
knew what to do with it. At last, his friends 
invented a way of turning it to a useful account. 
Tradition says that he was wont to hold a service 
with his family in one of the cellars of Ford 
Abbey. There he sat in the open door-way — all 
the other doors and windows in that part of the 
house being left open up to the attic. The whole 
place was soon filled with John Tomer's thunder. 
If, at the same time, every room happened also 
to be filled with quiet people on a visit to Mr. 
Prideaux — even if a few villagers happened to be 
standing in the dark among the trees outside — how 
could he know, or why need he care, for what harm 
was he doing ? A father was teaching his own 
children — cc that was alle." Only his children and 
grandchildren were in the cellar with him, and was 
that an unlawful assembly ? He afterwards found 
that while he had been innocently sitting at the 
cellar-door talking to the family within, he had 
also been preaching to ten or twelve different con- 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



253 



gregations — preaching to them all at once, though 
they all met at different places, and he had not 
been present at one of them. Truly it was won- 
derful, but was it wicked ? Romanist saint never 
wrought a greater miracle, but what law did it 
break ? Unhappily, the interpreter of the law 
decided against him ; and John Torner, instead of 
being canonized, was sent to prison as a warning 
to all sinners. 

Even there, scope was found for his peculiar 
faculty ; for after preaching his own sermonsd own 
to the congregation in the street, he would rehearse 
the sermons of others, and transmit messages from 
his brethren whose exhausted voices unfitted them 
to speak for themselves. One day, the veteran 
was holding forth from the window in his own 
hearty way, when the gaoler fired at him. Owing 
to a sudden movement of his head, quite acci- 
dentally as it seemed, the shot missed.* f ' The 
circumstance of being fired at," remarks a judicious 
writer, cc is apt to produce a momentary confusion 
in a man's ideas." Not so with John Torner ; he 
continued his discourse, only giving it a personal 
application to Harrison Skinner,f the foolish per- 



* A soldier shot a brace of bullets at Vavasor Powell, when he was 
preaching from the window of his Montgomery prison, but God 
preserved him. — Life and Death of Powell, 1672, p, 125. 

f Harrison Skinner was appointed in October, 1660. — State 
Papers. 



254 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



son who had discharged the pistol, addressing him 
in language so nervous and racy that he cc did make 
him quake and tremble." Mr. Torner was kept 
in prison five years, but it is cheering to know that 
he lived to the age of 94, in great honour and com- 
fort ; and that before he died, many persons assured 
him that they owed all their happiness to his prison 
sermons. 

There must have been something highly exas- 
perating, you are about to say, in sermons that 
made the gaoler think that he might shoot the 
preacher, without risk of losing his own place or 
offending the gentry who had just appointed him. 
Let us inquire. Torner had no reporter, but we 
can form some judgment of the kind of preaching 
in which he took a share, from some surviving 
specimens of the sermons that were delivered by 
others in the same course, and of those delivered in 
like circumstances elsewhere. They were not 
elegantly finished performances — that you would 
hardly exped in discourses preached from so rough 
a rostrum, and so likely to be interrupted in their 
delivery by exploding gunpowder. But, on the 
other hand, they were not wild words flung off in 
the heat of passion. They were only the ordinary 
addresses of the Puritan pastors to their flocks, laying 
down the laws of Christian duty in logical inference 
from Christian doctrine, with all their usual learn- 
ing, and all their usual hair-splitting casuistry. 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



When read over now, some of them make us 
wonder that they could ever have produced a 
popular effect. Depend upon it, these cold, heavy, 
spent thunderbolts were eledtric when they struck. 
These extindt sentences were once all flame, and 
rushed burning from soul to soul ; but their flame 
was all from Heaven. There was no party spirit 
in them. They breathed no complaints. They 
made no allusions to the common trial, except to 
suggest comfort, to urge constancy, and to enjoin 
obedience to the magistrate in all things within his 
province. Their only tendency was to make bad 
men good, and good men better. 

Here are some extracts from a book by Mr. 
Norman, evidently the record of sermons preached 
at this time, and most likely from the prison win- 
dow. They will help you, not only to know 
what such exercises were like, but what the people 
were like who flocked every day from the villages 
all round, and stood in the streets for hours 
together to hear them. The subject is, cc Confess- 
ing Christ."* 

He first explains what it is to confess Christ. 

* The title is, " Christ Confessed : written by a Preacher of the 
Gospel, and now a Prisoner."" Printed in the year 1665. 4-to., pp. 
114. The work consists of some rough notes which had long been 
circulated in manuscript, were never intended for the press by the 
author, but which were at last printed by some stranger. The style 
is often very loose and wordy, and some of the quotations now given 
have been abridged. 



256 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



cc We are to acknowledge our dependence on Him in 
point of light. He is the only supreme Teacher of 
the churchy and the church is not to admit offices 
of human invention, nor ordinances of human 
appointment, nor dodlrines of human imagination. 
There is no truth which Christ hath taught which 
we may part with, or must not profess, due circum- 
stances attending. — We are to acknowledge our 
dependence upon Him in point of life. He is 
the only Priest of the church, without colleague or 
successor ; and we are not to admit any other order 
of priesthood, or any observances, such as altars and 
ceremonies, properly belonging to the abrogated 
priesthood, for to His office pertaineth absolute 
perfection. — We are to acknowledge our depen- 
dency on Him for law, that is, for the applica- 
tion of the work which He has wrought out with a 
view to the regulation of our lives ; and so it is 
His sole prerogative to be King and Head of His 
church, to constitute church laws, to substitute 
church officers, to institute church seals and cen- 
sures, and to have the sole investiture of the 
conscience." 

<c Our principles must be seen — they must be ser- 
viceable. There is not one talent, but it is to trade 
with. Faith, hope, love, are all for exercise, and 
so for the praise and honour of the Giver, though 
not for ostentation by the user." fC True grace is 
compared to light, and to fire, which are not only 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 

communicative of their virtues, but carry a self- 
evidence. Can you believe Christ in your heart, 
and not confess Christ with your mouths ?" 

Cf His followers are known by their confession, 
and by having His Father's name written, not 
occultly in their backs, or in their breasts, or in 
their hands, but in their foreheads." cc Gird up 
the loins of your mind, then. A saint ! A Chris- 
tian ! Yet afraid to confess Christ ! How unlike 
it is to the spirits of the saints that breathed in the 
primitive times and stories ! Those offered them- 
selves frequently to the test and tormentors. They 
loved not their lives to the death, and suffered joy- 
fully the spoiling of their goods. What mean 
these subterfuges and shifting fetches, this shyness 
and these straitening fears, which so hold or oppress 
you ? Come, show yourselves to be men, if not 
saints. Be followers of them who through faith 
and patience do inherit the promises." 

cc There is no time wherein we may do anything 
contrary to what we should at any time allow to be 
our duty concerning Christ." Confession of Christ 
must be maintained, 

cc i. though the defection be never so general. 
c Though truth faileth, and he that departeth from 
evil maketh himself a prey, or is accounted mad,' 
as in Isaiah's time. Though we should be left 
alone, as Elijah was ; or have the whole world 
against one, as Athanasius : yet one Elijah, 



258 



DOINGS IN ILCHES TER GAOL. 



one Athanasius, must be against all the priests of 
Baal, against the whole world of heretical and un- 
godly men. Our rule is, c We must not follow 
a multitude to do evil.' We must not be con- 
formed to this world, we must not run into the 
same excess of riot, however strange it be reputed ; 
but keep our uprightness and profession in the 
middest of a crooked and perverse nation ?" 

cc 2. Though the danger be never so great^ we 
must hold fast our profession without wavering, 
and may not cast away our confidence, whatever it 
cost us. Let the constellation of martyrs excite 
you. Did they boggle at this duty because it 
would bring danger ? No dungeon, no den, no 
distress, no stones, no straits, no fire, no furnace, 
no bonds, no banishment, no bloody tortures could 
move them from this duty, when they saw c a mani- 
fest door open' for them thus to administer to 
others' good and God's glory. . . . Doubtless, it 
was their duty, else they were madmen rather than 
martyrs. If it were their duty to confess Christ in 
extremities, how have you got a dispensation ? 
Cease from the wisdom of this world. If it saith, 
c Better sin than suffer, better turn than burn, 
better dissemble, or deny, than die, better strain a 
point in profession than starve in prison,' say, 
c This thy way is thy folly, and will surely issue in 
damnation."' 

He thus encourages timid confessors : — 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 2, 5 9 

cc You are secured in your lives till you have 
finished your testimony ; immortal till your wit- 
ness is delivered and your work is done ; and who 
can desire to live longer, that liveth for God here, 
and hopeth to live with God in glory hereafter, when 
he hath finished his work ? 'Tis said, f when the 
two witnesses had finished their testimony, then 
(and not till then) the beast that ascended out of the 
bottomless pit overcame and killed them. 5 * They 
never fell, till their testimony was finished. O, ye 
believers, the year, month, week, day, hour, of 
your end or death, and of effe6ting their design, is 
under a divine limit. When our Saviour taught in 
the treasury, and therefore to the very teeth of His 
adversaries, so that they might have easily taken 
Him (looking at second causes), and by wicked 
hands have slain Him, yet, full of enraged malice 
as they were, c no man laid hand on Him.' Why ? 
c His hour was not yet come.' But when that hour 
came, forthwith they laid hands on Him and led 
Him away. c Fear not them that can kill the body,' 
for not only have they no more that they can do, 
but they are under an almighty restraint in this 
also. Not only the essential and integral parts of 
confessors, but f the very hairs of their heads ' are 
under the lock and key, the care and custody of 
the Lord Christ ; and when you have finished 



* Rev. xii. 7. 
S 2 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



your course and filled up your confession let the 
enemy kill you, he cannot hurt you." 

cf You are secured as to your liberty too, so far 
as it will further your testimony. And can you 
reasonably exped: or endeavour more ? So long as 
liberty will best serve the ends for which you are 
made, or maintained, or converted, you shall be 
sure to have it, that is, so long as it will be most 
useful for you to serve God by it. He ensured 
Paul as much, and you may by faith warrant your 
interest in the same promises, as far as concerns the 
profession, and your continued liberty will promote 
the same ends." . cc Away with your fears, 

then, and a6t faith. 'Tis true, your profession may 
cost some of you a prison ; and what is a prison 
with God's presence, and for professing Jesus ? A 
prison perfumed, a palace, a paradise, a living 
extacie, a lower heaven, a little emblem of the 
liberties of eternity, if you will believe the expe- 
riences of God's prisoners. . . . Sirs, if you 
are good earnest Christians, you have enough not 
only to quicken you, but to quiet you when dis- 
tracted and discomposed, to give cheerfulness when 
drooping and despondent. Shake off all dis- 
couragements then ; c Stand fast in the faith, quit 
you like men, be strong.' " 

cc We must buy the truth at any rate, whatever 
it may cost us, but may not sell the truth at any 
rate, whatever it may yield us." 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



He thus addresses confessors who may be 
tempted to equivocate or dissemble, in order to 
escape the penalties attending decision. 

Cf We may not, in the confession of Christ, dissemble 
in matters of faith. As there was no guile found 
in the mouth of the Saviour, so neither may there be 
in the mouth of His saints. . . . Both the 
doctrine and the grace of faith is characterised by 
the apostle to be awiroicpiTOQ ( i Tim. i. 5 ; 2 Tim. 
i. 5) unfeigned ; or, as the same word is rendered 
(Rom. xii. 9), without dissimulation. We are 
called to a plain confession of our faith in Jesus, 
and may not seek the covers of ambiguous phrases, 
or clothe the chaste and holy verities of Christ with 
the meretricious terms of the heathen or the heretic 
who examines us, then think to make it up by an 
after salvo of distinctions. If such frauds in 
matters of faith were passable, what fools were our 
Marian martyrs, to deal so openly on the points of 
merit, satisfaction, real presence, — who could but 
know that those terms might receive a construction 
that comported with the sense of Protestants as 
well as Papists ; but these holy men of God had 
better studied the simplicity of the Gospel, than 
that their confession should be in deceit or guile." 

cc We may not by equivocal expressions, or com- 
pliance with the adversaries' dialect, prevent the 
trials which are probably not far off. For this 
doth virtually seek the patronage of their sin to 



262 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



the prote&ion of yourselves. It doth foully slur 
the evangelical perfections together with your own 
profession, however you may pre-apprehend a 
possibility of evading by the door of an after-ex- 
position and distinction. Nay, this liberty would 
make void the scope and spirit of confession. 
This were, indeed, to cover the faith, not to con- 
fess it. Your business is not to hold fast 
a form c of safe words,' but of c sound w 7 ords and 
to speak sound truths in sound terms. We are to 
abstain from all appearance of evil in doftrinal 
positions, as well as in dues of practice. Though 
Judah be cast among idolaters, Judah must call 
God c no more by the word Baali, but Ishi,' 
because, although Baali also signified Lord, it was 
vulgarly known to be applied to the heathen idol." 

cc We may not, then, dissemble in words, nor in 
any other way, when called to a confession of our 
faith in Christ. There is no allowance to Arrius 
of the paper in his bosom, nor of the a6ts of the 
Priscillianists, to lie behind the curtain. These are 
fleshly artifices that harden the adversaries against 
the honesty and sincerity of your profession. 

Your works in this case would give your 
words the lye. . . . You must avoid not 
only the sins, but the signs of idolatry." 

Cf There may be no aft carrying an appearance of 
idolatrous worship done by us. God chargeth His 
people that they shall not herein do like the 



DOINGS IN 1LCHESTER GAOL. 263 

idolatrous heathen round about them.* How 
memorable to this purpose are the instances of 
Eleazer and Auxentius ! Who, though they might 
preserve their own lives and liberties by such an 
appearance of conformity, dared not thus stain their 
holy profession, or scandalize their brethren, or 
strengthen the hands of their persecutors, — the one 
by setting the branch of a vine- tree, loaden with 
clusters, at the feet of Bacchus, his image ; the 
other, by using his own provision which was lawful 
for him to eat, yet make as if he did eat the flesh 
of the sacrifice commanded by the King.j- There 
may be no allowance of any evil or idolatrous adfc 
of worship done for us and so to have 

fellowship with a work of darkness which we are 
rather to reprove. The signal zeal of Valentinian 
I may not pass by in this particular, who, when 
the priests had besprinkled him with their paganish 
holy water, as he passed before Julian into the 
Temple of Fortune, broke off those parts of his 
garments on which the water fell, and burned with 
just indignation against the priest himself." cc You 
countenance a sin negatively when you do not, 
according to your place, discountenance it, — when 
you do not what in you lies regularly to reprove 
it." 

Confession is urged on the ground of God's 



* 2 Kings xvii. 15. 



f 2 Mac. vi. 18. 



264 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



glory. cc Is not this your end, and doth not 
conscience di&ate the present usefulness of this 
means in order to that end ? Let every tongue 
confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father. Who may dare to be mute when the 
Lord is to be magnified ?" 

It is urged on the ground that the Gospel will 
be best proclaimed by it. cc Must we not all pray 
that the word of the Lord may have free course 
and be glorified ? Then surely we must, according 
to our place and calling, do our best and most to 
promote it. Yea, rather than not profess 

it, c you must be partakers of the afflictions of the 
Gospel according to the power of God, and not be 
ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of such 
as are His prisoners.' " 

It is urged on the ground of the good done to 
souls by it, especially under the existing circum- 
stances. cc No man should seek his own only, but 
every one another's welfare. Ye may not hide 
yourselves in whatsoever concerns your neighbours' 
estates, but help them even to their straying 
brutes.* Much less may you hide yourselves in 
what concerns their souls. Ah, Sirs ! who should 
be silent when souls lie at stake ?" 

He thus answers the question, whether it be 
lawful, and when, for persecuted confessors to flee. 



* Deut. xxi. 1 — 6. 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



265 



" You may take the liberty of flight, if the 
aforesaid ends will be better furthered by your 
flight than your stay. In this case, God Himself 
instructs Elijah to hide himself, first at Cherith, 
afterwards at Zarepath, for a sandtuary. Paul and 
Barnabas frequently provide for their own safety 
by a timely retreat from popular fury. The 
woman flees into the wilderness, and God prepares 
her not only place and provision but wings for 
flight." 

cc You must tarry, and may not flie without sin, 
when these ends are best accomplished by your stay. 
While Paul may best forward the concerns of 
Christ at Corinth by his continuance there, he will 
not flinch or flie one foot from thence. Religious 
Stephen will ride out the storm at Hierusalem, 
though it rain stones and slaughter, so long as the 
Gospel may rise and live by his death and downfal. 
As you are now circumstanced, will these ends be 
best provided for by your standing your ground ? 
Then do not either face about or flie away. Say 
rather, with stout and resolute Nehemiah, c Should 
such a man as I flie ? and who is there, that being 
as I am, would go into the temple to save his life ? 
I will not go in.' Though our Saviour did pru- 
dently decline those politic engines whereby the 
Pharisees did seek to ensnare and apprehend Him, 
yet when His hour was come wherein He might 
best glorifie His Father and give an example of 



266 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



endurance to His faithful!, He went forth to meet 
the officers." 

One of the questions discussed is, cc To what 
degree of explicit confession are we bound in the 
times whereupon we now are cast ?" In answer to 
this, he says that though no man can be discharged 
by any peril or calamity whatever from the most 
open possible profession of Christ, yet sometimes 
circumstances dictate that the great ends of con- 
fession may be best advanced by greater privacy in 
the mode of profession than would be right at 
other times; as Christ Himself, under varying 
circumstances, sometimes preached in a small com- 
pany, sometimes to the great congregation. The 
same causes should influence us in the selection of 
the special truth we should most emphatically pro- 
fess. Cf It should always be that which is most 
under present question and contradiction." 

He further speaks of the spirit that will best 
quicken and encourage a good confession. 

cc Quicken and keep up love. If you love 
Christ, how can you be loath to confess ? Holy love 
fetcheth in, fixeth, and fireth the interiour mind and 
exteriour members to and for its beloved ? c The 
love of Christ,' saith Paul, f constraineth us (owf'xO y 
it hath, hems in, and holds in the whole man 
together, and there is no getting out from the siege 
and co-arctation of this holy love. Love unites 
the strength of the soul within itself and upon its 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GJOL. 



26j 



object. . . . Love is venturous, vehement, 
victorious, and will at no hand be flattered or 
frightened, or beaten from Christ, or any of His 
concernments. . . . Love makes the cross 
easie, amiable, admirable, delicious. Did Jacob's 
service seem but a few daies to him for the love he 
had for Rachel ? O ! how easie will be the yoak, 
how light the burden of confession to hearts once 
overpowered with divine love to this dear Re- 
deemer ! 

cc Quicken and keep up hope. . . . Sirs ! 
this holy hope will assure and rejoice your hearts, 
and that in the greatest straits that can come 
upon you for confessing the name of Jesus. This 
hath cordial and celestial water in its hand for you, 
to revive you in every swoon and refresh you in 
every sadness. O Christians ! c rejoice in hope of 
the glory of God,' and then c glory in tribulation 
also.' No marvel if your hearts are sad when your 
hopes are sunk. Quicken hope, and look to the 
end!" 

cc Quicken and keep up joy. Joy acts upon the 
doore of the soule to let in all encouraging means 
and motives. Fears shrivel and contract the heart, 
but joy dilates and widens and enlarges it to do the 
utmost duties and endure the utmost dangers that 
may come upon us for confessing Christ's name. 
. . . The joy of the Lord is our strength. . . . 
f I am filled with comfort,' saith Paul, f I am 



268 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL, 



exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. Maintain 
your comforts, then, as you would maintain the 
interest of Christ, and let your confession be full of 
ingenuity and freedom. Count it joy — all joy 
— when you fall into divers temptations.'' 

He then proceeds to show that these animating 
affections are imparted by the Spirit of God 
through prayer. 

cc Be strong in the Spirit. The flesh will pull 
you back, and at best profits you nothing. The 
Spirit alone can savingly empower you to a suitable 
confession. c No man can say that Jesus is Lord, 
but by the Holy Ghost.' . . . Solicit Heaven then 
that thou mayest f be strengthened with all might 
by the Spirit in the inner man.' In that thy 
strength is so little, and the service so great, ply 
Heaven the harder, and fetch down a daily influx 
of divine help. . . . Run to Him in every diffi- 
culty, and repose thyself on Him in every duty. 
Draw strength from Him that thou mayest declare 
His sufficiency. c Blessed is the man, O Lord, 
whose strength is in thee.' " 

His appeal at the close is a charge to confess 
Christ cc Vnderstandingly, Vndoubtingly, Vndaun- 
tedly, Vndividedly, Vnfeignedly, Vniversally, 
Vnoffensively, Vltimately for God." 

We can only spare space for some of his remarks 
under two of these divisions. cc Confess Christ," 
he says, — 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL, 



26() 



fC Vndividedly" cc Gebal, and Ammon, and 
Amalek combine in ungodliness, and shall the 
godly quarrel with each other about the Gospel ? 
Oh, where are the golden taches of the Tabernacle 
that should unite the many curtains into one tent 
of confessions ? Alass ! for the staffe of beauty 
and the staffe of bands, so strangely broken ! 
When shall Christians stand fast in one spirit, with 
one mind, and strive together for the faith of the 
Gospel, and no more against one another in 
ungodly factions ? The unity of confession will be 
their own glory and His also, whom they confess. 
'Tis the badge, 'tis the beauty, 'tis the blessing of 
the church. c My dove is but one,' saith Christ ; 
c the daughter saw her and blessed her.' Yea, 
' there the Lord commandeth the blessing, even 
life for evermore.' Confesse Christ 

cc Vnoffensively \ c Give no offence, no, not in 
anything,' nor unto any man, that the blessed 
Gospel c be not blamed.' Lord it not herein over 
other men, as if their faith were to be limited by 
thy faith, much lesse by thy phancie. Be lowly 
and meek in your answers to them that ask you, 
yea, though they are adversaries to you. Set aside 
whatever matters or modes of expression may 
justly harden or provoke them, and study to please 
wherein thou mayest profit them. Comport your- 
selves agreeable to the circumstances you are in : 
others may lose the benefit and yourselves the 



270 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



blessing of your confession by an unbecoming cir- 
cumstance therein. Mind what they now can bear 
who are private men, and whose authority they also 
m bear who are publique magistrates, that your zeal 
for God may be tempered with submission to 
governours as it ought, so that they take not just 
offence." 

While these appeals were sounding from the 
prison windows, the King came into the neighbour- 
hood. On the 29th of August he visited Bath, 
where he remained for a little time to drink the 
waters and enjoy the gaiety. Addresses full of 
humility, miracles of metaphor, floods of adoring 
eloquence were called forth by this amazing adt of 
royal condescension. The recorder welcomed his 
Majesty in " a pithie and rhetorical speech," in the 
course of which he glorified him as cc the preserver 
of all the felicities of the nation," and said, Cf The 
greater number of our visitants come to receive 
health from Vs; your Majestie (God be prais'd) 
does us this honour without that necessity, and 
the very sight of you (for not only is your touchy 
Sir, medicinall) is able to give more health here 
than the virtue of all our bathes !"* 

In contrast with this, read an address that was sent 
shortly before this time from Ilchester Gaol. It was 
from the Quakers. An epistle from members of 



* The Newes, September, 1663. 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



27I 



the Society of Friends to cc Comus and his crew !" 
Thus they wrote to him whom they called Cf Our 
good friend Charles :"* — 

cc Forasmuch, O King ! as our sufferings are 
augmented, and our number in this place so greatly 
increased, as that we cannot any longer well hold 
our peace, we do in the fear of God, and in true 
humility in thy sight, in all lowliness of mind, after 
long imprisonment, present thee, in this thy pro- 
gress and day of prosperity, with our grievous 
sufferings for our conscience in things relating to 
God; our souls being subjed to the Lord that 
made heaven and earth : and against thee, O King, 
have we not done or imagined evil, but do, 
according to the truth and righteousness in our 
hearts, desire thy peace and prosperity, and that 
mercy may establish thy throne in equity and 
justice. And whereas we who are called Quakers y ^ 



* " We are come to testify our sorrow at the death of our good 
friend Charles, and our joy for thy being made our governour,'' — 
Address to James II. Library of Devonshire House. 

f George Fox was committed to the Derby House of Correction, 
October 30, 1650, by a mittimus signed by Gervase Bennett and 
Nathaniel Barton. " Barton was an Independent . . . When 
G. Fox bade him tremble at the word of the Lord, he took hold of 
this weighty saying in such an airy mind, that from thence he took 
occasion to call him and his friends, scornfully, Quakers." — Sewell. 
From that time they were generally known under this scornful title, 
although they declared that their true designation was " The Chil- 
dren of Light." The people persisted in thinking " Quakers" 
to be their proper name. One writer seemed to think he had found 



DOINGS IN ILCEESTER GAOL. 



because of the fear of God, and to keep our con- 
sciences void of offence, cannot take any oath, 
many of us are by a severe sentence deprived of all 
the goods we have in this world, and our wives and 
innocent children thereby exposed to utter ruin, 
unless the execution thereof be prevented ; and 
others by fines beyond their abilities adjudged to 
perpetual imprisonment ; and that for matter of 
pure conscience only, and not for any design of 
evil or wrong intended towards thee, O King, nor 
any of thy subjects, as hath been largely testified by 
many years' experience through many trials and 
hardships in bonds, wherein the Lord hath been 
with us, and preserved us innocent and upright in 
our hearts toward thee ; and for this we appeal to 
the witness of God in all men, whether we have not 
so approved ourselves this day, in the sight of God 
and man. And as an addition to our present suf- 
ferings the gaoler's cruelty so abounds, that many 
of us are likely to be exposed to famishment and 
utter destruction, being thrust together in such 
great number, and denied such necessary accommo- 
dation as is ordinarily given to the worst of men, 



a kind of prophetic reference to them, as such, in the Bible, for he 
applied to them a text in i Sam. xiv. 15, which he thus translated : — 
4< And there was trembling, or quaking, in the host, in the field, and 
among the people 5 the garrisons, and the spoilers, they also trembled, 
and the earth quaked; so it was a very great quaking" — Quakerism 
Unmask'd by Will. Prynne of Swainswick, Esq, 1664. 



DOINGS IN ILCH ESTER GAOL. 



*73 



besides what is daily further threatened. We 
therefore, as to our outward man, being objedls of 
thy mercy and clemency, it being in thy hands to 
dispose of us at thy pleasure, do in all due submis- 
sion make an appeal to thee, as unto one who is 
able to relieve us; and the Lord open thy heart to 
consider our innocency and distress, and to acquit 
us from our grievous sentences, and our im- 
prisonment. And it is the desire of our hearts 
that in truth and righteousness the God of peace 
may prosper thee to reign ; and what profit will the 
death of the innocent be to the King ? 

"From the prisoners called Quakers, in Ilchester, 
the 4th day of the seventh month, 1663."* 

Strange does it seem to us, that between the 
writers of these noble and pathetic words, and the 
ministers who were their fellow-sufferers, there did 
not exist a more perfed sympathy. Strange must 
it now seem to them, as they review their trials from 
the world of love, for we know they now f ' see eye 
to eye, and with the voice together they do sing." 

Let us return to our own company. As the 
winter came on, the ministers found the cold of the 
Bridewell chamber as bad to bear as had formerly 
been its furnace-heat. It had no chimney, and the 
ragged fra&ures of roof or window, once so need- 
ful, now threatened to be only inlets for the drifting 



* Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers. Somerset. 
T 



274 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



snow. After long negotiation with the magistrates, 
and much difficulty, they obtained permission to 
be transferred to the ward, a place more convenient 
in every respe6t. 

The first use Mr. Alleine made of this increased 
seclusion was to write his cc Call to Archippus," 
an eloquent appeal to the Nonconformist ministers, 
charging them, though in the face of danger and 
suffering, cc to fulfil their ministry," to rally their 
scattered congregations, — if free, to preach to them 
just as ever ; or if in prison, to teach them by pastoral 
epistles. The effe6t was immediate and extensive; 
and proof might be given that the church owes 
many valuable instructions, both oral and printed, 
to the stimulus of these burning lines. 

Next, he wrote an cc Exposition of the Assembly's 
Shorter Catechism,* with an affectionate Letter 
annexed, and Rules for Daily Self-examination." 
Dire&ly this was printed, he sent a copy to every 
family under his own ministerial charge, so that the 
Christian education of the children might not suffer 
through the withdrawment of their minister. 

After this he wrote for his flock a treatise called 
cc A Synopsis of the Covenant." This was at first 
circulated separately, and then included in the 
Third Part of the Vindicise Pietatis of his father- 
in-law, Mr. Richard Alleine. The senior John 



* Exposition of Assembly's Catechism, pp. 176. 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



Ryland calls it cc that glorious synopsis, the gem 
of the book." He also wrote the chapter entitled, 
cc A Soliloquy representing the believer's triumph 
in God's covenant, and the various conflicts and 
glorious conquests of faith over unbelief." He 
had contributed before his imprisonment to the 
first part of the same work.* If it could tell its 
own story, it would be found that few books could 
match it for romantic adventures. Sheldon re- 
fused to license it. j" It was published without a 
license. It was then rapidly bought up, and cc did 
much to mend this bad world." Not being licensed, 
Roger Norton, the king's printer, caused a large 
part of the impression to be seized and sent to the 
royal kitchen. On second thoughts, it seemed to 
him to be a sin that a book at once so holy and so 
saleable should be consigned to a fate so obscure. 
He therefore bought back the sheets, says Calamy, 
<c for an old song," bound them, and sold them in his 
own shop. This was complained of, the honest 
man had to beg pardon on his knees before the 
council-table, and the remaining copies were sen- 
tenced to be cc rubbed over with an inky brush," 



* Mr. Alleine's Vindicia Pietatis appeared successively in three 
parts, issued in 1660, 1663, and 1665. 

f In the Act of 1661, for regulating the press, it was enacted, 
inter alia, that no book of divinity should be printed without the 
license of the lord archbishop of Canterbury or bishop of London for 
the time being. 

T 2 



276 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



and sent back to the kitchen for lighting fires. 
The mission of the book was not ended yet. It 
was re-issued by the author, was read by high and 
low ; and among other instances of good effected 
by it which he lived to see, was one in the case of 
a Yorkshire thief, who, attracted by the glitter of 
its binding, stole it from a stall at Woodend, took 
it home, read it, then brought it back to the owner, 
confessing his crime in stealing it, but thanking God 
for making it the means of his conversion. At 
the present moment, this book, so eventful in its 
story, is on its travels in various lands, speaking 
in various languages, and, we hope, not speaking 
in vain. 

His labours in the ward were not merely those 
of a writer. cc Here," writes his wife, cc he and 
his companions had very great meetings, week- 
days and Sabbath-days, and many days of humilia- 
tion and thanksgiving. The Lord's days many 
hundreds came." Here, too, he held constant con- 
ferences with his people ; here he taught all the 
children who were sent to him, and invented plans 
for the elder to teach the younger when he was 
gone. He also sent out catechisms to be distri- 
buted among the poor families of Ilchester and the 
surrounding villages. The gaol chaplain falling ill, 
he dared to take his place, and, until prohibited, 
was much with the felons, preaching to them, talk- 
ing to them, and, by gifts to relieve their physical 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



277 



misery, trying to win his way to their souls. 
Unhasting, unresting, month after month, he thus 
worked on, and sometimes after these varied toils 
all day, kept on his day-clothes all night, having 
only time for one or two hours' sleep ; for he always 
rose at four o'clock in the morning, to begin those 
secret prayers which he felt to be more essential 
than ever. 

Labours like these were not to be tolerated. 
Merely to punish the "unauthorised ministers" with 
bonds was a weak leniency, and it really seemed to 
do more harm than good. Other measures were 
thought of, as we learn from Mrs. Alleine, who 
says : — Cf My husband and brother Norman had 
many threats from the judges and justices that they 
should be sent beyond sea, or be carried to some 
island, where they should be kept close prisoners." 
cc This banishment," she says, cc they constantly 
expedted." Do you know what this meant ? In 
this and the following reign the sugar-trade had 
remarkable prosperity.* There was a great desire 
to procure white labourers instead of negro slaves 
to work in the West India plantations.")" To meet 
this demand, and at the same time to relieve the 



* In an old folio sheet, 1666 is mentioned as the year of its greatest 
prosperity. 

f Complaint was sometimes made of the deficiency of white 
convicts. — Rise and Progress of the West India Colonies, 1690, 
p. 41. 



278 DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 

country of serious expense, many convi6ts were 
sent over.* This was an old practice, and Crom- 
well had thus punished, for treason, seventy persons 
who had taken part in the rising of Penruddock 
and Grove. But it was now occasionally done in a 
secret and fraudulent way. Certain magistrates 
were known to take peculiar interest in the prisoners 
who were sentenced to transportation, and were 
suspedled of having been anxious to secure the 
passing of such a sentence, in order that they might 
receive money for the convicts, and virtually sell 
them to the planters. For the same purpose, some 
of these guardians of justice used to induce men 
liable to death or hopeless imprisonment, to escape 
the terrors of the law, by engaging to go to the 
colonies for a given period. f Such culprits were 
employed in grinding, digging, and working at 
the furnaces ; lived under the lash, were sold from 
planter to planter, and but few came back to tell 
the woeful tale. J Sound divines like Mr. Alleine 
and Mr. Norman began to be highly valued by 
men of that generation, and were considered to be 
worth at least cc from ten to fifteen pounds apiece." 
This was the estimate formed by Judge JefFeries, 
twenty years later, of what some prisoners might 



* LingarcTs History, 1849, vol. x., p. 183. 
f The magistrates of Bristol, for instance. 
J Burton's Diary, vol. iv., pp. 254 to 273. 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



fetch who were taken in the Monmouth rebellion.* 
We should be sorry, however, to be unjust to our 
friends the Taunton magistrates, for perhaps, after all, 
they only contemplated a perfe&ly open transaction, 
according to the forms of law ; bringing no pecu- 
niary advantage to themselves, and having no aim 
but the honour of the church. We know that the 
transportation of Nonconformists was now first 
publicly talked of, and that it was thought the 
system would work admirably. cc Our phanatiques 
here," wrote the Dover correspondent of The Newes, 
a little later in the year, fC begin to be startled 
with the fear of transportation, hearing that some 
of their fellows are adjudged to be sent away, 
which will certainly do much more with them 
than their imprisonment, where, as the matter is 
generally handled* they have more freedom of 
communicating, and at least as much of scrib- 
bling as they have abroad."f Along with other 
matters of gossip and advertisement, the old news- 
papers contain many notices of Nonconformists 
being transported to Barbadoes and other places ; 
but while their fate was talked over by some with 
brutal jests, by others with heartless indifference ; 
while Alleine daily suffered threats from his enemies 
of being sent into the same dreadful oblivion, 



* Letter dated Taunton, September 19, 1685. 
f The Nerves, August 23, 1664. 



28o 



DOINGS IN ILCHESTER GAOL. 



and fully expeded that one day they would keep 
their word and do their worst, his spirit was undis- 
mayed, and none of these things moved him to 
make the slightest change in his course. cc There 
is another life after this/' said he, in a letter to a 
friend ; cc I regard myself as already in banishment, 
and am content .... 

cc It was the divine argument that Epidletus used 
for comfort in banishment : Ubique> habenda sunt 
colloquia cum Deo. I met lately with a passage out of 
one of the Fathers, which I engraved upon my heart. 
Cut P atria solum placet nimis delicatus est ; Cut omnis 
T err a F ) atria , is sortis est ; Cui omnis Terra exilium, 
is sanffius est. That is worthy of a saint, indeed, 
to account himself always in the state of banish- 
ment, whilst in the state of mortality ; like the 
worthies who sojourned even in the land of pro- 
mise, as in a strange countrey. Such a sojourner I 
wish both myself and you ; and may the moveable- 
ness of our present state fix our desires upon that 
kingdom which shall never be shaken !" 

Our confessors were not transported from the 
country, — cc the Lord preserving them by His 
power, and so ordered it that their imprisonment was 
a great furtherance to the Gospel, and brought 
much glory to Him."* 



* Mrs. Alleine. 



Chapter XII. 
Cartnpfjonta. 

" O sacred Providence, who from end to end 

S trongly and sweetly modest ! shall I write, 
And not of thee, through whom my fingers bend 
'To hold my quill ? Shall they not do thee right ? 

" Of all the creatures both in sea and land, 

Only to man thou hast made known thy ways, 
And put the pen alone into his hand, 
And made him secretary of thy praise" 

GEORGE HERBERT. 

HILE he was a prisoner, it was his 
custom, until interrupted by press of 
occupations, to send once a week a 
letter to his people. This was to serve 
for a sermon ; and when, every Sunday morning, 
worthy elder Rossiter carried it round to the various 
meeting-places, and read it to company after com- 
pany, it often seemed as if no sermon had ever 
been so eagerly waited for, or so solemnly received. 
About forty of these letters have been preserved in 
different books, besides others addressed to the 
destitute churches at Luppit, Honiton, and other 




282 



CARDIPHONIA. 



places. Matthew Henry has truly said that they 
all have cc a mighty tin&ure of peculiar prison 
comforts and enlargements." John Wesley has 
pointed out their resemblance to those of the eminent 
Rutherford, and though they are not in the same 
degree pi&uresque with many images, and tinged 
with the colours of genius, every line is alive with 
the same holy love. We must not, however, try 
them by the laws of literary criticism, for they are 
only the free impetuous overflowings of his full 
heart — a heart charged with enthusiasm for the 
glory of his Master, and with a passion of anxiety 
for the spiritual welfare of his flock. If any study 
had been spent upon them, it was only to make 
them so simple that no poor servant from the mills 
or fields might miss the meaning of a single sentence, 
or fail to feel its urgency. A few specimens here 
follow. The first was written a day or two after 
his first imprisonment by sentence of the county 
magistrates. 

PREPARE FOR SUFFERING. 
cc To my dearly beloved the Flock of Christ in Taunton, Grace 

and Peace. 

" Most dear Christians, — My extream straits of time 
will now force me to bind my long loves in a few short 
lines ; yet I could not tell how to leave you unsaluted, 
nor choose but write to you in a few words, that you 
should not be dismayed, either at our present sufferings or 
at the evil tidings that by this time I doubt not are come 
unto you. Now, brethren, is the time when the Lord is 



CARD IP HON I A. 



like to put you upon the trial ; now is the hour of 
temptation come. Oh ! be faithful to Christ to the 
death, and He shall give you a crown of life. Faithful is 
He that hath called you, and He will not suffer you upon 
His faithfulness to be tempted above what you are able. 
Give up yourselves and your all to the Lord, with resolu- 
tion to follow Him fully, and two things be sure of, and 
lay up as sure grounds of everlasting consolation : — 

" i. If you seek by prayer and study to know the 
mind of God, and do resolve to follow it in uprightness, 
you shall not fail either of direction ur pirdon ; eithei 
God will shew you what His pleasure is, or will certainly 
forgive you if you miss your way. Brethren, fix upon 
your souls the deep and lively affecting apprehensions of 
the most gracious, loving, merciful, sweet, compassionate, 
tender nature of your heavenly Father, which is so great 
that you may be sure He will with all readiness and love 
accept of His poor children when they endeavour to 
approve themselves in sincerity to Him, and would fain 
know His mind and do it, if they could but clearly see it, 
though they should unwillingly mistake. 

" 2. That as sure as God is faithful, if He do see that 
such or such a temptation (with the forethought of which 
you may be apt to disquiet yourselves, lest you should 
fall away when thus or thus tried) will be too hard for 
your graces, He will never suffer it to come upon you. 
Let not, my dear brethren, let not the present tribulations 
or those impending move you. This is the way of the 
kingdom ; persecution is one of your land-marks ; self- 
denial and taking up the cross is your A B C of religion ; 
c you have learnt nothing that have not begun at Christ's 
cross.' Brethren, the cross of Christ is your crown ; the 
reproach of Christ is your riches \ the shame of Christ is 



284 



CARD IP HON I A. 



your glory ; the damage attending strict and holy 
diligence, your greatest advantage ; sensible you should 
be of what is coming, but not discouraged ; humbled, but 
not dismayed ; having your hearts broken, and yet your 
spirits unbroken ; humble yourselves mightily under the 
mighty hand of God ; but fear not the face of man ; may 
you even be low in humility, but high in courage ; little 
in your own apprehensions of yourselves, but great in holy 
fortitude, resolution and holy magnanimity, lying in the 
dust before your God, yet triumphing in faith and hope, 
in boldness and confidence over all the power of the 
enemies. Approve yourselves as good souldiers of Jesus 
Christ, with no armour, but that of righteousness ; no 
weapons, but strong crying and tears ; looking for no 
viftory but that of faith ; nor hope to overcome, but by 
patience \ now for the faith and patience of the saints, 
now for the harness of your suffering grace. O gird up 
the loyns of your mind, and be sober, and hope to the end. 
* Fight not ' but c the good fight ' of faith \ here you must 
contend, and that earnestly. Strive not but against sin, 
and here you may resist even unto blood \ now see that 
you chuse life, and embrace affliction rather than sin. 
Strive together mightily and frequently by prayer \ I know 
you do, but I would you should abound more and more. 
Share my loves among you, and continue your earnest 
prayers for me, and be you assured that I am and shall 
be, through grace, a willing, thankful servant of your 
souls' concernment. " Joseph Alleine." 

" From the common Gaole, May 28, 1663."* 



* Printed May 2, in some of the old copies of his letters. In 
many of these old copies the dates are inaccurate, and appear to have 
been added by the printer, most of the MSS. being undated. 



CJRDIPHONIA. 



285 



When at the Quarter Sessions, July 14, 1663, 
it was resolved that he should still be kept in prison, 
although the grand-jury could not find the bill, he 
wrote next day the following letter to console his 
people under their bitter disappointment : — 

RIGHT REASONS IN SUFFERING. 
" To the most loving^ and best beloved^ the Flock of Christ in 
Taunton^ Grace and Peace. 
" Most loving and dearly Beloved, — I know not 
what thanks to render to you, nor to God for you, for all 
the unexpressable love which I have found in you to- 
wards me y and not terminatively to me, but to Christ in 
me ; for I believe it is for His sake, as I am a messenger 
and embassador of His to you, that you have loved me 
and done so much every way for me ; and I think I may 
say of Taunton, as the Psalmist of Jerusalem, 4 If I for- 
get thee, let my right hand forget her cunning ; if I do 
not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of 
my mouth.' I would not, my dear brethren, that you 
should be dejected or discouraged at the late disappoint- 
ments: for through the goodness of God lam not downcast, 
but rather more satisfied than before : and this I can truly 
say, nothing doth sadden me more than to see so much 
sadness in your faces. As on the contrary nothing doth 
comfort me so much as to see your chear and courage. 
Therefore I beseech you, brethren, faint not because of 
my tribulation, nor of God's delays, but hold up the 
hands and the feeble knees. And the Lord bolster up 
your hands, as they did the hands of Moses, that they may 
not fall down till Israel do prevail. Let us fear lest there 
be some evil among us, that God being angry with us, 
doth send this farther tryal upon us. Pray earnestly for 



286 



CARDIPHONIA. 



me, lest the eye of the most jealous God should discern 
that in me which should render me unfit for the mercy 
you desire. And let ever) one of you search his heart, 
and search his house, to see if there be not cause 
there. Let not these disappointments make you to be 
less in love with prayers, but the more out of love with 
sin. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of 
God, and He shall exalt us in due time. And for the 
enemies of God, you must know also that their foot shall 
slide in due time. Let the servants of God encourage 
themselves in their God : for in the things wherein they 
deal proudly, He is above them : therefore, fret not your- 
selves because of evil doers \ commit your cause to Him 
that judgeth righteously. Remember that you are bid, if 
you see oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of 
judgment and justice in a province, not to marvel at the 
matter; verily, there is a God that judgeth in the earth : 
and you have the liberty of appeals : rest in the Lord, and 
wait patiently for him, and fret not yourselves, because of 
the men that bring wicked devices to pass : take heed 
that none of you do with Peter begin to sink, now you see 
the waters rough, and the winds boysterous : these things 
must not weaken your faith, for they are great arguments 
for the strengthening of it. What clearer evidence can 
there be for the future judgment of the ungodly, and 
coronation of the just in another life, than the most 
unjust proceedings that are here upon earth : shall not 
the Judge of all the earth see right to be done ? We see 
here nothing but confusion and disorder, the wicked 
receiveth according to the work of the righteous, and the 
innocent according to the work of the wicked. The 
godly perish, and the wicked flourish ; these do prosper, 
and they do suffer. What, can it be ever thus ? No, 



CARDIPHONIA. 



287 



doubtless, there must be a day when God will judge the 
world in righteousness, and re&ifie the present disorders, 
and reverse the unrighteous sentences that have been 
passed against His servants. And this evidence is so 
clear, that many of the heathen philosophers have from 
this very argument (I mean the unrighteous usage of the 
good) concluded that there must certainly be rewards 
and punishments adjudged by God in another world. 

" Neither must these things cool your zeal : now is 
the time that the love of many doth wax cold : but I bless 
God it is not so with you : I am sure your love to me is, 
as true friends should be, like the chimneys, warmest in 
the winter of adversity ; and I hope your love to God 
is much more, and I would that you should abound yet 
more and more. Where else should you bestow your 
loves ? Love ye the Lord, ye His saints, and cling about 
Him the faster now ye see the world is striving to sepa- 
rate you from Him. How many are they that go to 
knock off your fingers ! Methinks I see what tugging 
there is. The world is plucking, and the devil is pluck- 
ing : hold fast, I beseech you ; hold fast, that no man 
take your crown. Let the water that is sprinkled, yea, 
rather poured upon your love, make it to flame up 
the more. Are you not betrothed unto Christ ? Oh, 
remember, remember your marriage covenant : did you 
not take Him for richer for poorer, for better for worse ? 
Now prove your love to Christ to have been a true con- 
jugal love, in that you can love Him when most slighted, 
despised, undervalued, blasphemed, among men. Now 
acquit yourselves, not to have followed Christ for the 
loaves 1 now confute the accuser of the brethren, who 
may be ready to suggest of the best of you, as he did of 
Job, c Doth he serve the Lord for nought?' And let 



288 



CARD IP HO NI A. 



it be seen that you loved Christ and holiness purely for 
their own sakes ; that you can love Christ when there is 
no hope of worldly advantage, or promoting of self- 
interest in following Him." 

Two days after he was sentenced by Judge 
Foster to prolonged imprisonment, he addressed a 
message to his people, part of which is now given. 

a To those who are in the City of Refuge, and to those who 
are only in its Suburbs, 

" Most dearlyBeloved, — I have been through mercy 
many years with you, and should be willingly so many 
years a prisoner for you, so I might eminently and effec- 
tually further your salvation. I must again, yea, again 
and again thank you for your abundant and intire affec- 
tions to me, which I value as a great mercy, not in order 
to myself, if I know my own heart, but in order to your 
benefit, that I may thereby be a more likely instrument 
to further your good. Surely, much as I do value your 
love, yet had I rather be forgotten and forsaken of you 
all, so that your eyes and hearts might be hereby fixed on 
Christ. Brethren, I have not bespoken your affe&ions for 
myself. I am perswaded that I should much rather choose 
to be hated of all, so this might be the means to have Christ 
honoured, and set up savingly in the hearts of you all. 
And indeed there is nothing great but in order to God \ 
nothing is material as it terminates in us. It matters not 
whether we are in riches or poverty, in sickness or health, 
in honour or disgrace ; so Christ may be by us magnified. 
Welcome prison and poverty, welcome scorn and envy, 
welcome pains or contempt, if by these God's glory may 
be most promoted. What are we for but for God ? what 



CARDIPHONIA. 



doth the creature signifie separated from his God ? Just so 
much as the cypher separated from the figure, or the 
letter from the syllable, we are nothing, or nothing worth, 
but in reference to God and His ends. Better were it 
that we had never been, than that we should not be to 
Him. Better that we were dead than we should live, 
and not to Him. Better that we had no understandings, 
than that we should not know Him. What are our 
interests unless as they may be subservient to His interest ? 
or our esteem or reputation, unless we may hereby 
glorifie Him ? Do you love me ? I know you do ; but who 
is there that will leave his sins for me ? I mean, at my 
requests. With whom shall I prevail to give up himself 
in stridtness and self-denial to the Lord ? Who will be 
intreated by me to set upon neglected duties, or reform 
accustomed sins ? O, wherein may you rejoyce me ? In 
this, in this, my brethren, in this you shall befriend me, 
if you obev the voice of God by me ; if you be prevailed 
with to give yourselves up thoroughly to the Lord. Would 
you lighten my burden ? would you loosen my bonds ? 
would you make glad my heart ? Let me hear of your 
owning the ways and servants of the Lord in adversity ; 
of your coming in, of your abiding and patient continuing 
in the ways of holiness. O that I could but hear that 
the prayerless souls and families among you, were now 
given to prayer! That the profane sinners would be 
awakened, and be induced by the preaching of these 
bonds, which heretofore would not be prevailed with, to 
leave their drunkenness, their loose company, their lying 
and deceit, and wantonness ! I warn you of staying in the 
suburbs of the city of refuge. O what pity is it that any 
should perish at the gates ! that any should escape the 
pollutions of the world, and do many things, yea, and 

u 



290 



CARDIPHONIA. 



suffer it may be too, and yet should fall short of the glory 
of God, for want of a thorough work of grace ! You 
halting Christians, that halt between Christ and the 
world, that are as Ephraim like a cake not turned, pro- 
fessors that have lamps without oil, that cry Lord, Lord, 
but do not the will of our Father which is in heaven, how 
long will you stay in common workings and external per- 
formances ? Even out of my prison 1 cry after you, and 
make one tender of mercy more !" 

During the few months just following his 
renewed imprisonment, he had reason to feel much 
concerned for the stability of his people, who, every 
day, had more terrible trials of principle and fewer 
outward supports. At the beginning of September 
he writes : — <c See to it, my dearly beloved, that 
you stand fast in the holy do&rine which we have 
preached from the pulpit, preached from the bar, 
preached from the prison to you ; it is a Gospel 
worth the suffering for/' At the close of the 
month he says : — 

" I see so much mercy in this very gaol, that I must be 
more thankful for this than for my prosperity. Surely the 
name of the place is, c The Lord is here :' surely it may be 
called Peniel. Be strong in the Lord, my brethren^ be 
patient, stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord 
draws nigh. In nothing be terrified by your adversaries. 
Now let those that fear the Lord be often speaking one 
to another. I hear that Satan is practising to send more 
of you after me ; I desire and pray for your liberty ; but 
if any of you be forced hither for the testimony of the 



CARDIPHONIA. 



29I 



Gospel, I shall embrace you with both arms. Fare you 
well, my most dearly beloved ; be perfect, and be of good 
comfort ; be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of 
love and peace shall be with you. My brethren in bonds 
salute you with much affection, rejoycing to behold your 
order and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ : share 
my heart among you, and know that I am the willing ser- 
vant of your faith and joy." 

In the month of October he is told that the 
courage of some is beginning to waver ; he there- 
fore sends this earnest message : — 

u Let it not be a strange thing to you, if the Lord do now 
call you to some difficulty ; forsake not the assembling of 
yourselves together, as the manner of some is. I plainly see 
the coal of religion will soon go out, unless it have some 
better helps to cherish it than a carnal ministrie, and life- 
less administration. Dear brethren, now is the time for 
you that fear the Lord, to speak often one to another : 
manage your duties with what prudence you can, but 
away with that carnal prudence that will decline duty to 
avoid danger. Is the communion of saints worth the 
venturing for ? Shut not up your doors against godly 
meetings. I am told that it is become a hard matter, 
when a minister is willing to take pains with you, to get 
place : far be this from you, my brethren. What, shut 
out the word ! Suppose there be somewhat more danger 
to him that gives the minister entertainment, is there 
not much more advantage accordingly ? Did not Obed- 
Edom and his house get the blessing by entertaining the 
ark there ? or do you think God hath never a blessing for 
those that shall with much self-denial entertain His mes- 

u 2 



2()2 



CARDIPHONIA. 



sengers, His saints, His worship ? Are you believers, and 
yet are afraid you shall be losers by Christ? Do you indeed 
not know that he that runs most hazard for Christ, doth 
express most love to Christ, and shall receive the greatest 
reward ? Away with that unbelief, that prefers the present 
safety before the future glory." 

In another letter he thus seeks to inspire cheer- 
ful bravery : — 

u Fear not, little flock ; stronger is He that is with you, 
than he that is against you. What though Satan should 
raise all his militia against you ? Adhere to Christ in a 
patient doing and suffering His pleasure, and He shall 
secure you. The Lord will not forsake you, because it 
hath pleased the Lord to make you His people : God 
hath entrusted you with His Son : you are His care and 
His charge. Many will be lifting at you, many will be 
plucking at you, but fear not, you shall not be moved, 
none shall pluck you out of Christ's hand, He hath all 
power. — Matt, xxviii. 8. Can omnipotence secure you ? 
He is all treasures. — Col. ii. 3. Can unsearchable riches 
suffice you ? In a word, He is all fulness. — Col. i. 21. 
Can all content you ? Can fulness fill you ? If so, you 
are blessed, and shall be blessed. 

" Beloved, we lose unutterably for want of considering, 
for want of viewing our own privileges and blessedness. 
O man, is Christ thine, and yet dost thou live at alow rate 
and comfort ? Is thy name written in heaven, and yet dost 
thou not rejoyce? Shall the children of the kingdom, the 
candidates of glory, the chosen generation, the royal 
priesthood, be like other men ? O Christians, remember 
who and whence you are 3 consider your obligations, put 



CARDIPH0N1A. 



293 



on a better pace ; bestir yourselves, run and wrestle, and 
be strong for the Lord of Hosts ; (and earnestly, yet 
peaceably) contend for the faith once delivered to His 
saints. What, shall we make nothing of all that God 
hath said and done for us ? O Christians, shall he that 
hath gotten an inriching office boast of his booty ? or he 
that hath obtained the king's patent for an earldome, glory 
in his riches and honour, and shall the grant of heaven 
signifie little with thee ? Shall Christ's patent for thy 
sonship and partnership with Himself be like a cypher ? 
Shall Haman come home from the banquet with a glad 
heart, and glorying in the greatness of his riches, the mul- 
titude of his children, and all the things wherein the king 
had promoted him above the princes; and shall we 
turn over our Bibles and read the promises, and find it 
under God's own hand, that He intends the kingdom for 
us, that He will be a Father to us, that He gives and 
grants all His infinite perfections to us, and yet not be 
moved ? Beloved Christians, live like yourselves ; let the 
world see that the promises of God and privileges of the 
Gospel are not empty sounds, or a meer crack. Let the 
heavenly cheerfulness and the restless diligence, and the 
holy raisedness of your conversations prove the reality, 
excellency, and beauty of your religion to the world. 
Forget not your prisoner." 

The secret of spiritual strength is often set forth, 
and the timid Christian is summoned to be Cf strong 
in the Lord." This passage occurs in one of his 
appeals : — 

" We must learn to have no subsistence in ourselves, 
but only in Christ, and to stand only in Him. Study the 



294 



CARDIPHONIA. 



excellent lesson of self-annihilation. A true Chris- 
tian is like a vine that cannot stand of itself, but is 
wholly supported by the prop it leans upon. It is no 
small thing to know ourselves to be nothing, of no might, 
of no worth, of no understanding, nor reality ; to look 
upon ourselves as helpless, worthless, empty shadows. 
This holy littleness is a great attainment ; when we find 
that all our inventory amounts to nothing but folly, weak- 
ness, and beggary ; when we set down ourselves for 
cyphers, our gain for loss, our excellencies for very 
vanities, then we shall learn to live like believers. A true 
saint is like a glass without a foot, that set him where you 
will, is ready to fall every way till you set him to a prop. 
Let Christ be the only support you lean unto. When you 
are throughly emptied and nullified, and see all comeliness 
to be but as a withered flower, dead, dried, and past reco- 
very, then you will be put upon the happy necessity of 
going out to Christ for all." 



Chapter XIII. 
jFrcctJom jrounn ana last again, 

" Think with mingled joy and fear 
On the freedom thou hast found 
Know, while yet we linger here, 
Perils ever hem us round. 

" Art thou faithful ? then oppose 

Sin and wrong with all thy might ; 
Care not how the tempest blows, 
Only care to win the fight" 

LYRA GERMANIC A. 

FTER an imprisonment of twelve 
months, Mr. Alleine was set free on 
the 20th of May, 1664.* 

Free at last ! Out again, — out, in 
the broad, clear glory of the open country. Away, 
through great spaces, where, amidst scattered 
clumps of gorse or fern, the sheep are grazing ; 
through lanes, where high over-head the crossing 



# Twelve months, wanting but three days. 




296 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



arches of young foliage make a wavering green 
radiance ; through woods where hyacinths are all 
about the oak-tree stems in a rich mist of beauty. 
cc Flowers peep, trees bud, boughs tremble, rivers 
run." The freed prisoner is alive to all these things ; 
no man more than he. Like him who wist not 
that it was true which was done by the angel, but 
thought he saw a vision, the joy of deliverance will 
surely be bewildering — he will need a pause to 
think, to look around him, to drink the air of this 
May morning, and to feel the ecstacies of escape 
from his dismal cage. But no, the time is short ; 
the church is mourning; and just as Paul would 
have done in like circumstances, he hastens Cf to 
work for God more earnestly than ever," for he 
says, cc Necessity is upon me, and woe is me, if I 
preach not the Gospel !" Obeying this law, we 
find him preaching to his congregation four times 
on the very first Sunday after his release. 

Great changes had taken place amongst his 
people, and many old faces were missing. This 
was natural ; for, although adtual persecution had 
not yet been extensively directed against the so- 
called laity, the position of a Nonconformist was at 
best, as it ever must be, one of social indignity and 
loss. Besides those of his parishioners who had 
left him out of thoughtful preference for the reli- 
gion of the State, many others who had once helped 
to swell the great crowd in his church, were now 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 2gJ 

gone. All who had been Puritans only by acci- 
dent, — all who had become lax in life, and who 
were therefore inconvenienced by the laws of Chris- 
tian fellowship, and the restraints that belong to 
union with one particular Cf congregation of faithful 
men," — all who were bent on finding the easiest 
path to promotion of any kind, — all who supremely 
cared for the great prizes of education, — all who 
were sensitive to what was thought about them by 
the majority, Cf Mr. Byends, Mr. Facing-both- 
ways, and Mr. Anything ; Mr. Worldly-wiseman, 
Mr. Legality, and that pretty young man, his son, 
Mr. Civility," — all who were afraid of adopting 
any form of religion that implied the probable 
absence of honoured social rank, had gradually 
dropped away. But it was cheering to find that* 
after all, great numbers flocked round him, and all 
the more cheering, because it might be fairly pre- 
sumed that those who now remained were at least 
disinterested and sincere. So large was the con- 
gregation, that it was needful to make permanent 
arrangements for dividing it into four separate 
sections on the Sunday, and into many others in 
the week, that he might preach to each one in suc- 
cession, and so secure the privilege in turn to all.* 
On the ist of July, 1664, a month after this 



* Baxter's Introdu6Kon to Alleine's Alarm. Mrs. Alleine's 
Account. 



298 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



arrangement had been made, the Conventicle Ad 
came into operation. Hitherto the law had only 
punished the pastors, now its penalties lighted on 
the flocks. It was enaded that if any person above 
the age of sixteen attended any meeting under colour 
of a religious exercise not allowed by thejiturgy or 
pradice of the Church of England, where five 
or more persons were present besides the house- 
hold, he should for the first offence suffer three 
months' imprisonment, or pay a sum not exceed- 
ing £5 ; for the second, six months' imprisonment, 
or pay £10; for the third, to be banished to 
certain specified plantations for seven years. 
cf With refined cruelty it was provided, that the 
offender should not be transported to New 
England, where he was likely to meet with sym- 
pathising friends."* If he returned to his own 
country before the expiration of his term of exile, 
he was liable to capital punishment. A jury was 
unnecessary. A single justice of the peace, and the 
oath of an informer were sufficient, and this Ad 
was to continue in force for three years after the 
next session of Parliament. 

From this time scenes became common such as 
Mr. Pepys thus describes : — ff I saw several poor 
creatures carried by constables for being at conven- 
ticles. They go like lambs, without any resistance. 



* Macaulay. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 299 



I would to God they would either conform, or 
be more wise, and not be catched!"* All the 
county gaols, like those in London, were soon 
filled with Dissenters, and hundreds of families 
were brought to ruin, either by fines or seizures on 
property. As usual, the Quakers were the greatest 
sufferers, and the pamphlets they issued at this 
time, though sometimes apt to provoke a smile by 
their quaint wording, furnish accounts of wrongs 
done to them, which no true man can read without 
starting to his feet in a storm of indignant emo- 
tion, f Not a few of the Taunton Dissenters were 
carried off from the praying assemblies to prison, 
but how many, or for how long a time, is not 
known. The only notice of their imprisonment is 
this incidental reference to it in a sermon delivered 
several months later, when they were again at 
liberty : — 

cf Brethren, it is your privilege that God gave 
you hearts to own Him in times of danger, and 
blessed be God He was not behind hand with you 
in that He owned you in your prison state. Doth 
not God speak to you as the apostle, c Which of you 
goeth a warfare at his own charges ? ' When 

* Diary, August 7, 1664. 

f In the Library of Devonshire House there is one preserved with 
this title : — " A Trumpet Sounded in the Eares of Persecution, with 
the lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, neighing of horses, 
rattling of pots, kettles, skillets, dishes and pans, taken from an Inno- 
cent People," &c. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



our Saviour sent forth His disciples without scrip 
or shoes, says He, c Lacked ye anything ?' and they 
answered, c Nothing.' May you not say so? If He 
say, c Lacked ye anything ? ' we must reply, c No, 
He poured out His kindness upon us.' God did 
send bread, and not by a raven, but by friends. 
Whoever wants, God will be sure that His prisoners 
shall not want. The king took care of Jeremiah, 
c Then Zedekiah the king commanded, that they 
should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, 
and that they should give him daily a piece of 
bread out of the bakers' street until all the bread 
in the city was spent.' — Jer. xxxvii. 21, When 
Jeremiah was in prison, God would be sure that 
he should not want as long as there was any bread 
to be had in the city. So God commands con- 
cerning His prisoners."* 

Try to picture the efFeft on any modern congre- 
gation of such penalties as these, softened as they 
were by the ministries of Christian pity. " To 
some Christians," says John Foster, cc there is 
something formidable even in a certain quantity of 
rain-drops — they have a reverential awe of the 
weather." If such agencies serve to thin our 
churches, how many worshippers would be there, if 
they anticipated as the probable consequence, the 
payment of a fine, suffering in a prison, or the 



* Alleine's Remains. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 30 1 

chance of slavery and death beneath the blaze of a 
tropical day ? 

Even Mr. Alleine's brave people were so far dis- 
persed by these terrors, that he deemed it sufficient 
to hold henceforth two Sunday services instead of 
four ; still continuing, however, his various other 
labours in the week, both at home and in the villages. 

His own languid health yet more imperatively 
required him thus to lessen his usual amount of 
work. The prison had made him an old and weary 
man. It had made his life wither as a flower will 
wither if the fire has once passed over it. His 
iron power of endurance, his elastic spring of 
recovery had gone for ever. He could hardly 
hold on his way, and at last he broke down utterly. 
At the close of August, having travelled sixteen 
miles to visit a church which had been deprived of 
its pastor, he sank into such utter exhaustion after 
preaching, that he could not be removed for three 
or four days, and then was with great difficulty 
borne back to Taunton. For many weeks his 
strength consumed away so fast, that his friends 
thought he would soon die. In Odober he began 
to revive, but even then his disorder so affedted 
him, that he could not use his arms so as to write 
letters, or put off and on his clothes. 

About the beginning of his illness he received a 
letter from a clergyman to thank him for the reli- 
gious good gained in former years from his preach- 



302 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



ing. In January, he was able to dirftate a reply, 
some sentences of which shall be given here : — 

TO A CLERGYMAN WITH TWO PARSONAGES. 

cc Let us know no interest but Jesus Christ's. I 
cannot say that I have already attained this, but my heart 
is bent on making the endeavour. Too often I take a 
wrong aim, and miss my mark, but I will tell you the 
rules I stri£tly impose upon myself from day to day : 
Never to lie down, but in the name of God ; not barely 
for natural refreshment, but that a wearied servant of 
Christ may be recruited and fitted to serve Him better 
the next day. Never to rise up but with this resolution, 
well, I will go forth this day in the name of God, and 
will make religion my business, and spend the day for 
eternity. Never to enter upon my calling, but first 
thinking, I will do these things as unto God, because He 
requireth these things at my hands in the place and station 
He hath put me into. Never to sit down to the table, 
but resolving, I will not eat merely to please my appetite, 
but to strengthen myself for my Master's work. Never 
to make a visit, but upon some holy design, resolving to 
leave something of God where I go ; and in every com- 
pany to leave some good savour behind. This is that 
which I have been for some time learning, and am press- 
ing hard after ; and if I strive not to walk by these rules, 
let this paper be a witness against me. 

cc I am not now in my former publick capacity, such 
things being required of me to say and subscribe as I 
could by no means yield to, without open lying and dis- 
sembling with God and men ; yet, that I am unuseful, I 
cannot say ; but rather think, that possibly I may be of 
more uce than heretofore. I thank the Lord I have not 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 303 



known what it is to want a tongue to speak, but in my 
sickness ; nor a people to hear ; but so as that we both 
follow the things that make for peace. 

" I perceive you are otherwise perswaded in some 
things than I am \ but, however, I trust we meet in our 
end. Since you are in, may it be your whole study to 
gain souls, and to build them up in holiness, which is 
with too many the least of their cares. One duty 
(miserably neglected) I shall be bold to commend to you 
from my own experience, and that is, the visiting your 
whole flock from house to house, and enquiring into their 
spiritual estates particularly, and dealing plainly and truly 
with them about their conversion to God ; to the useful- 
ness of this great work I can set my probatum est. 

" I hear you have two parsonages ; O tremble to think 
how many precious souls you have to look to ! and let it 
be seen, however others aim at the fleece, you aim at the 
flock •> and that you have indeed cur am animarum." 

The following letter appears to have been 
written about the same period : — 

TO A DISSENTING MINISTER IN GAOL. 

" Worthy Sir, — It was but a little after my release from 
my own confinement, that I heard of yours \ and now write 
to you, as one that hath taken a higher degree than ever, and 
more truly honourable, being commenced prisoner of Christ. 
I was once affected with the picture of a devout man, to 
whom a voice came down from heaven, saying, Quid vis 
jieri pro te. To which he answered. Nihil domine nisi 
pati ac contemni pro te. Undoubtedly, Sir, it is our real 
glory to be throughout conformed to Jesus Christ, not 
only in His sanctity, but in His sufferings. Paul counted 
all things but dung for this, that he might win Christ, &c, 



304 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



and know the fellowship of His sufferings, and be made 
conformable to His death. I doubt not but your conso- 
lations in Christ do much more than superabound in all 
your tribulations for him. Yet, let me add this one 
cordial, that now you have a whole shoal of promises 
come in to you, which you had not before ; I mean, all 
the promises to suffering saints, in which they have not 
an immediate, but only a remoter right, unless in a 
suffering state. And doubtless he hath gotten well that 
hath gotten such a number of exceeding great and 
precious promises. If the men of the world do so 
rejoyce when such or such an estate is fallen to them, 
should not you much more, that have such a treasure of 
promises fallen to you ? 

" I can tell you little good of myself ; but this I can 
tell you, that the promises of God were never so sweet in 
this world to me, as in and since my imprisoned state. 
Oh, the bottomless riches of the covenant of grace ! It 
shames me that I have let such a treasure lie by so long, 
and have made so little use of it. Never did my soul 
know the heaven of a believer's life, till I learnt to live a 
life of praise, and by more frequent consideration to set 
home the unspeakable riches of the divine promises, to 
which, I trust, through grace, I am made an heir. I 
verily perceive that all our work were done at once, if we 
could but prevail with ourselves and others to live like 
believers ; to tell all the world, by our course and 
carriage, that there is such pleasantness in Christ's wars, 
such beauty in holiness, such reward to obedience, as we 
profess to believe. May ours and our people's conversa- 
tions but preach this aloud to the world, that there is a 
reality in what God hath promised ; that heaven is worth 
the venturing for > that the sufferings of the present time 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 305 

are not worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us ! 

u Verily, Sir, it is but a very little while that prisons 
shall hold us, or that we shall dwell in dirty flesh. 
Porphyry tells us of Plotinus, that he was ashamed to see 
himself in the body ; to see a divine and immortal soul in 
a prison of flesh (for so they held the body to be) ; but 
the worst shackles are those of sin. Well, they must 
shortly off all together ; our Lord doth not long intend us 
for this lower region. Surely He is gone to prepare a 
place for us. Doubtless it is so ; yea, and He will come 
again, and receive us to Himself, that where He is, we 
may be also. And what have we to do, but to believe, 
and wait, and love, and long, and look out for His 
coming, in which is all our hope ? 'Twill be time enough 
for us to be preferred then. We know beforehand who 
shall then be uppermost. Our Lord hath shewed us 
where our place shall be, even at His own right hand ; 
and what He will say to us, c Come, ye blessed,' &c. 
Surely we shall stand in His judgement. He hath 
promised to stand our Friend. Let us look for the joyful 
day. As sure as there is a God, this day will come, and 
then it shall go well with us. What if bonds and banish- 
ments abide us for a season ? This is nothing but what 
our Lord hath told us, c The world shall rejoice, but ye 
shall weep and lament ; you shall be sorrowful, but your 
sorrow shall be turned into joy.' Oh, how reviving are 
His words ! c I will see you again, and your heart shall 
rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away from you.' 

" If that miserable wretch leapt chearfully off the 
ladder, saying, c I shall be a queen in hell,' with what joy 
should we do and suffer for God, who have His truth in 
pawn that we shall be crowned in heaven ? Verily, 

x 



306 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 



they are wonderful preparations that are making for us. 
The Lord prepare us apace, and make us meet to be par- 
takers. It was the highest commendation that ever that 
worthy R. Baxter received, which fell from the pen of 
his scoffing adversary, Tilenus, who saith of him, Totum 
Puritanismum totus spirat. Oh, that this may be true of 
us and ours ! 

"... — But what shall I say ? I have more 
need to receive from you, than ability to give ; only I will 
tell you my wishes for you : I wish that your body may 
prosper^ as your soul also prospereth. I wish, that you 
may see the travel of your soul ; that you may find your 
people thriving under your hands in all manner of holy 
conversation and godliness, that whosoever converses 
with them, may see and hear by them, that God is in 
them of a truth. I wish your enlargement from your 
bonds, and your enlargement in them : that your prison 
may be but the lanthorn through which your graces, 
experiences, communion, and prison attainments may 
shine most brightly to all beholders. I wish your prison 
may be a Paradise of peace, and a Patmos of divine dis- 
coveries. Lord Jesus, set to this thy Amen. 

" I am, Sir, 
u Your unworthy brother and companion 

In the kingdom and patience of Jesus, 
" Jan. io, 1664." " Jos. Alleine." 

About April he was able to leave his chamber 
again, and from that time he persisted in preaching 
once and sometimes twice every Sunday, as well as 
in visiting and teaching on other days. It was 
impossible to go on thus ; and in the summer of 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



307 



1665, yielding to the advice of his friends, he 
agreed for health's sake to spend a season of rest 
in the country. 

Reddening its fringe of grass, and the trailing 
strings of tangled creepers through which it glistens, 
there is at the village of Seend, near Devizes, a 
chalybeate spring, now scarcely noticed, but then 
just beginning to have a brief celebrity. In the 
year after, some of its waters were taken in phials 
by Aubrey to a meeting of the Royal Society, 
and the sages there were cc wonderfully surprised" 
at the experimental effeft produced by the oxida- 
tion of the iron it contained. An advertisement of 
its virtues appeared in Mr. Lilly's Almanac. The 
village became fashionable, and was much fre- 
quented by persons who came to be cured of "the 
spleen." Mr. Alleine went to this Wiltshire 
Bethesda, and stayed for several weeks. In that 
summer there was little chance of refreshment for 
an invalid anywhere, for never had such a sultry 
season been known. The cattle died, the hedge- 
leaves were shrivelled, some of the pasture lands 
were burnt white like the highways, and meadows 
which usually yielded forty loads of hay, now 
yielded only four. Though all nature languished 
around him, the strength of our friend was renewed 
by his visit, and he went back to Taunton rejoicing 
in hope. 

I On his return, he resolved to start on a mis- 

x 2 



3 o8 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



sionary tour through Wales. The idea of Wales 
as a mission-field was not new to him or to his 
flock. By the establishment of schools, the em- 
ployment of lay and itinerant agency, and the 
appointment of working ministers in the place of 
those who were deprived for drunkenness, or 
scandalous lives in other respe&s, the Puritans, 
with the questionable aid of the Long Parliament, 
had done much to disperse the heathen darkness 
that had so long shadowed the principality. This 
may be said with confidence, although, at the same 
time, it can scarcely be doubted that hard measure 
was sometimes dealt to the Royalist clergy there, 
and that a few excellent men suffered ejection with 
their numerous less honourable brethren.* From 
the time of Mr. Alleine's ordination, he had joined 
in the endeavours to evangelise his Welsh neigh- 
bours. By correspondence with Lord Wharton, 
by appeals to his own responsive people, and by 
co-operation with Vavasor Powell, through whose 
single itinerancy twenty thousand persons were 
gathered into Christian congregations")" — by these 
and other means, he had sent help over to those 
whom he called cc men of Macedonia." The effedls 
of such services were now rapidly withering before 



* Gemitus Ecclesiae Cambro-Brittannicae, 4-to., 1654. 
*f* Thurloe. Vavasor Powell was a Baptist. He was eleven years 
in prison for nonconformity, and died in the Fleet Prison, 1670. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



309 



the A6t of Uniformity. What could be done ? 
He busied his mind with many projects. By his 
influence, several ministers were sent over, and he 
was just setting out himself, when the return of his 
maladies convinced him of his inability to travel, 
and, entreated by his friends, he mournfully gave 
up the design.* 

In his accustomed rounds, then, this servant of 
the Lord still determined to toil on — his strength 
strained to the utmost, and his life beset with 
perils ; but though many threats were uttered against 
him by the magistrates, and many warrants out for 
him, nothing ruffled his placid courage, or shook 
his firm resolve. He would say, when his enemies 
were plotting to get him into prison, cc They could 
not do me a greater kindness. I can do but little 
because of my distempers ; but if I cannot work for 
God, I can suffer for Him, if He would so far 
honour me." But the time was not yet come for 
this, and, till then, he seemed to lead cc a charmed 
life." 

All this while the Plague was raging in London. 
The old Gothic city, with its foul nests of narrow 
streets, each having in its centre a black rivulet 
trickling along to the river, seemed marked for 
such a doom. The avenger had often sent warning 
of his approach, and now he had come, walking in 



* Richard Alleine. 



3IO FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



darkness, wasting at noonday, and filling the whole 
scene with horrors which the tongue trembles to 
utter, and the pen refuses to record. In the month 
of September, the terrific number of ten thousand 
at least, was the weekly average of the bills of mor- 
tality. In one night — a night long to be remem- 
bered — it is said that four thousand died. Shop 
after shop was closed, door after door was inscribed 
with a long red cross, having over it the words, 
Cf The Lord have mercy upon us," and street after 
street became still, with the awful peace of death — 
the doors left open, the casements clapping in the 
wind, the rooms empty, the inmates gone. In 
many parts, 

" The town lay solitary, 
As doth a quite forsaken monastery 
In some lone forest, and we could not pass 
To many places but through weeds and grass."* 

The pestilence travelled on until nearly a hun- 
dred thousand souls had been swept away before it. 
Material terrors were often heightened by the work- 
ings of an insane imagination. In the heavens 
men saw, or thought they saw, blazing stars and 
flaming swords ; and on the earth, spe&res were 
descried scintillating in the twilight. Fanatics, 



* G. Wither on the Plague in 1627. London's Remembrancer, 
4to. t 1665 5 a Collection of all the Bills of Mortality for this present 
year, &c. By the Company of Parish Clerks, 1 665. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 3 I I 

thinking themselves inspired, went everywhere 
shouting messages of wrath. One hollow voice 
made the streets echo with the cry, cc Yet forty 
days, and London shall be destroyed !" Another 
moaned, night and day, " O the great and dreadful 
God ! O the great and dreadful God !" Sur- 
vivors thronged to the churches, but with a few 
honourable exceptions the clergy had fled. Hand- 
bills were thrown about the streets, bearing the title, 
cc A Pulpit to Let," on which were printed the fol- 
lowing lines : — 

" They that should stay, and teach us to reform, 
Gird up their loins, and run to 'scape the storm 5 
They dread the plague, and dare not stand its shock, 
Let wolves or lions feed the fainting flock. 
Think you these men believe with holy Paul, 
For them to be dissolved is best of all ; 
Then, their own bodies they would never mind, 
More than the souls of those they left behind. 
Who now, those sons of Aaron being fled, 
Shall stand between the living and the dead ? 
We have at home the plague, abroad the sword, 
And will they add the famine of the word ?" 

An eye-witness declares, that seeing these pamph- 
lets of "A Pulpit to Let" scattered over the 
thoroughfares, and finding the churches open, 
many of the Nonconformist ministers ventured 
to accept the challenge, and fill the pulpits,* — 



* Vincent's " God's Terrible Voice in the City." The lines 
quoted above, occur in " A Pulpit to Let," single sheet, 1665. 



312 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 



secure in a toleration decried by law, but allowed by 
the exigencies of the hour. Among these were 
William Dyer, author of the book on cc Christ's 
Famous Titles," John Janeway, Dr. John Owen, 
John Knowles, formerly of Bristol Cathedral, 
Thomas Vincent, Chester, Turner, Franklin, and 
Grimes. What these men did, and what they 
dared so heroically, would furnish materials for 
many stirring chapters, and made at the time a 
deep impression on the hearts of the English 
people. 

We naturally ask what their old foes were doing 
through all this dreary season ? Most of them 
were too absorbed in their own affairs to care 
for those of others. Some were engaged, as 
usual, in trifles. We find fussy Mr. Pepys, the 
type of this class, able, amidst all his fright, to 
take affe&ionate and critical notices of periwigs, 
thus pensively contemplating their fate — " People 
will henceforth buy no hair, lest it had been cut 
from the heads of people who had died of the pes- 
tilence." * Some were absorbed in vice — the Plague 
only rousing them, as it did the men of old Athens, 
to a wilder fanaticism of license.-]- Others, and 



Guildhall Library. I think it must be the pamphlet to which Vin- 
cent alludes. Various poems and ballads were printed on the same 
subjeft, such as " The Runawaye's Return $" u The Shepherd's 
Lacker Lacked," &c. 

* Diary, 1665. f Thucydides, ii. 54. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 3 1 3 



this is our present point, were absorbed in plans of 
new persecution ; the self-devoting labour of the 
Nonconformists, instead of making them relent, 
only seeming to lash up emotions of more pitiless 
vengeance. Sheldon, now archbishop of Canter- 
bury, Seth Ward, bishop of Salisbury, and Lord 
Clarendon, employed the leisure of their safe retreat 
atX)xford in forging the infamous Five-Mile Aft, 
which received the royal assent on Oftober 31, 
1665. This Aft set forth a certain oath, which 
every Nonconformist minister was to take, declaring 
his conviftion that it was unlawful, under any pre- 
tence whatever, to take up arms against the sove- 
reign, and promising not to attempt any alteration 
of the Government, either in Church or State. 
It also provided, that those who refused to take 
such an oath, should not come within five miles 
of any corporate city or town, or within five miles 
of any place in which they had heretofore been 
settled, or in which they had preached, under enor- 
mous penalties. 

About thirty, or a few more, consented to take 
this oath, Mr. Newton with the rest ; but it was 
obviously impossible to be taken by the great body 
of Nonconformists. The nation does not exist for 
the king, but the king for the nation. Among 
free men, an oath of allegiance to their ruler means 
no more than that they will be faithful to him while 
he is faithful to them. When he no longer regards 



3I4 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 

the objedfc for which he reigns, loyalty is no longer 
a virtue. The Dissenters were loyal, but the 
jus divinum of kingship, and the political nothing- 
ness of citizenship — the do&rine that kings can 
claim to hold all mankind as property in per- 
petuity, and that subjeds have nothing to do 
with Government but to be governed — these were 
not among the articles of their Puritan creed, neither 
could they help desiring, by all legal means, to obtain 
some change in the arbitrary laws. The ministers 
therefore refused the oath, as was anticipated, and 
were a second time driven from their homes. While 
they kept in their old haunts, the most persecuted 
could preach occasionally ; however poor they 
were, however scorned by the world, they could 
always be comforted by the presence of a few who 
held them in unspeakable reverence, — who were 
ready to give away their last crust to keep them 
from starvation, — and who, in the most evil day, 
would have found for them the safest nooks of 
concealment, or have risked life itself to cover 
their escape from the troopers. But from this 
time, their lot was to be cast among strangers, and 
their final possibility of preaching the Gospel 
seemed to be taken away. 

The only excuse for this a6t of exquisite wicked- 
ness is, that the ends contemplated by the A61 of 
Uniformity could not, at that early stage of its aftion, 
have been secured without it. One of its first objedts 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 3^5 

was to make it impossible for any but Conformists 
to be recognised as ministers in England. But 
this was defeated by the persistent ministry of those 
who, being no longer Conformists, were, according 
to the law, no longer ministers. More than this, 
they had aftually ventured into the empty pulpits 
of certain churches in London. There were many 
empty pulpits, — "bells lacking clappers," as Latimer 
would have said, in the country ; and as these resolute 
men had once defied the law, who could tell where 
the mischief might end ? Preach they would — 
certainly in their conventicles, and possibly in un- 
occupied churches ; this, indeed, they often adtually 
did.* Preach they would, while they could have 
congregations, and the only way to prevent their 
preaching was to drive them from their people. 
The rulers were right, if they were right in passing 
the A61 of Uniformity. Law must not remain a 
dead letter on the statute-book. If it be right to 
make a law, it is right to enforce it. Laws for the 
soul, like laws for the body, must be enforced by 
penalty, and the penalty must, if possible, answer 
its end. 

The first Nonconformists have often been repre- 
sented as a gloomy generation. ff But," asks one 
of their advocates, cc is it fair to ruin us, and then 
reproach us for not being merry ? They that 



* O. Hey wood. 



3i6 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



wasted us required of us mirth but how 

shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land, 
and what other songs can we sing ? Shall we set 
the Five-Mile A£i to music, and make merry with our 
sorrows ?" <c I wonder how any one can laugh," 
exclaimed a poor woman to Alleine, " when God's 
church is in such distress."* Some degree of 
gloom was natural, and it hung heavily over the 
spirits of many — not, however, as it seems, over the 
spirits of Mr. Alleine. You are eager to know 
how the new A 61 affefted his proceedings. He 
resolved to take up his abode at Wellington, a 
town more than five miles away ; but, a few nights 
before doing so, he obtained the largest room that 
could be found, probably one at Fullands, — called 
his people together, and held a service of solemn 
thanksgiving ! The rough notes of his address on 
this occasion have been preserved, and we must 
spare space for a few sentences here : — 

cc Most dearly beloved brethren, with no little 
joy and thankfulness have I thought of this time, 
when I should once more see your faces together ; 
and be so truly glad, with so heart-contenting a 
mercy, as to c rejoice with the joy of God's people, 
and to glory with His inheritance.' 

" It is a time that, to some, may seem unseason- 
able to set up thanksgivings, when our calamities 



* Alleine's Remains, p. 32. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 3 I J 

are so near approaching. But surely, if I had 
never hopes to enjoy one day with you more, the 
last day should be a day of praise. And if I were 
sure that we were now to take our farewell of 
Christians and ministers, and of all our former 
liberties, I should exhort you that we might join 
once more in lifting up hearts and hands in blessing 
God for all the mercies that we have met with 
together. Your condition is never such but your 
mercies are infinitely greater, and more than your 
afflictions. Neither may the sense of misery at 
any time surprise you, so as to drown the thankful 
acknowledgment of God's mercies. God, that hath 
been always good to you, hath never been better 
than since you have had affliction. Elijah was 
never so happily fed at a full table as when it was 
a time of great famine ; when God sent every bit 
of bread and flesh by the mouth of a raven. O 
how sweetly, do you think, that every bit of this 
bread did relish with the man of God, when he saw 
that he received it immediately out of God's own 
hand ? 

cc Brethren, though it hath been a time of great 
calamity, yet God hath herein heightened His 
mercy to you ; — you have seen the bush burn- 
ing, and yet not consumed. The portion of God's 
children hath been taken away, and yet our cheeks 
have been fat. We have been cast with Daniel 
into the lion's den ; but God hath sent His 



3 i8 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



angel and shut the lion's mouth, and we have not 
been destroyed, but are here together to praise the 
Lord. 

cc Methinks there are several periods of time, 
since the time of our calamities, wherein God hath 
appeared to us, when we thought all had been gone. 
One period was when your ministers were shut out 
of public by the A6t of Uniformity. Another, 
when we were cast out of our private meetings by 
the A6t made against seditious conventicles, so 
called by the iniquity of the times. Another, by 
this A61 that doth now cast ministers out of their 
habitations. And, methinks, every period should 
end with praise. We read, that when they removed 
the ark, that when they had passed such a number 
of paces, then they c slew a sacrifice.' So, methinks, 
as we pass these periods of time, at the end of 
every period we should offer praise. What ! though 
God hath separated your preachers from you, yet, 
as He said, if the soldier dies fighting, and the 
preacher preaching, and the swan singing, then the 
saints should part praising. Oh, Christians, this is 
the spirit that should be in you, that whatever God 
doth with you for the time to come, you should 
resolve to end in His praise for the mercies past. 
If it were the last day we should have together, 
surely, methinks, we should end in praise. 

Cf The mercies of God are a deep that cannot be 
fathomed. Where shall I begin or end ? Let me 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



3 T 9 



this evening show a little of God's mercy to you, 
and let my message live in your hearts as long as 
you live." 

He first aims to show the mercies enjoyed by 
his people as the people of God. He shows how 
they may prove the existence of this relation, and 
then, that this relation involves the following things, 
on each of which he enlarges : — cc You are the elec- 
tion of grace — you are the first-born of God — you 
are the first-fruits of the creation— you are the 
burgesses of heaven — you are the members of 
Christ — you are the living stones of the temple." 

He next asks the people to call to mind the par- 
ticular mercies they have enjoyed as the inhabitants 
of Taunton 

cc Though praise for the higher mercies should 
ever ring loudest, these should not be forgotten. 

cc Firstly. He has been a Saviour to you. He 
hath saved your lives from the sword. Have you 
forgotten that you were a people devoted to 
destruction by the sons of violence ? But God 
disappointed them, and gave your lives for a prey. 

cc Tour dwellings from the flames. — The flames 
have been set in ambush against you, and yet your 
habitations have not been burnt down to this day. 

cc Tour lives from the plague. — It hath devoured 
others, but it hath not devoured you. How emi- 
nently hath God preserved you in this place, in the 
time of common calamity that hath been among 



320 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 

others ! O think not that it was because those 
were greater sinners than are in Taunton ; no, but 
because God hath a peculiar intention of saving 
you. Yet I say to you, as Christ to them, c Think 
not that those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, 
were greater sinners than any in Jerusalem. I tell 
you, nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish.' We have had the same sins, and yet 
God hath preserved us. 

cc Tour persons from the prison. — How often hath 
God preserved you ? He hath been like the cloud 
upon Israel ; c and upon all the glory there hath 
been a defence.' Once, indeed, some of you have 
tasted of a prison ; but what a mercy was it, that 
it was but once. 

cc Secondly. God hath been a Shepherd to you. 
— Therefore, you have not wanted. Who is it 
that leads you by the still waters ? Whence is it 
that you lie down in green pastures ? It is because 
God is your Shepherd. How hath God provided 
for you formerly and of late ? 

cc Thirdly. God hath been a keeper to you. 
When you were sent to prison God did keep you. 
O do not forget the mercies of a prison ! I believe, 
that of all the passages of our lives, many of us have 
no such experience of God's mercy as in a prison. 
O the provision that God did make for us there ! 

Cf Brethren, now let us thankfully commemorate 
all these mercies. Let me call upon you, as the 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



321 



Psalmist, f Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous ;' and 
again, f Rejoice, O ye people, let your voice be 
heard on high/ c Let us worship and fall down 
before the Lord our Maker.' Let it be said, 
i Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Taunton.' 
Well might praise wait for God in Taunton, for 
God hath waited to be gracious to us. There was 
the place where He chose to put His name. 
c There brake He the arrows and the spear.' Who 
is like our God, who rideth on the heaven for our 
help, and on the sky for our aid ? Blessed is the 
people that heareth the joyful sound ; they shall 
rejoice in thee, O Lord. f The Lord is our 
deliverance, and the Holy One of Israel is our 
King.' Shout, therefore, O inhabitants of Taunton, 
for great is the work of the Lord with you. And 
now, O Lord, bless them, and accept the work of 
their hands, and lift them up for ever !" 

At Wellington, he preached in a dye-house. 
Attempts lately made to identify the place by the 
help of tradition have all failed. It was a very 
obscure shelter ; but good men, like diamonds, 
shine in the dark, and light will not remain a secret 
long. Mr. Alleine was soon discovered by in- 
formers, and a warrant placed in the constable's 
hand for his apprehension. Even had he been 
silent he would not have been safe, for it was 
thought that the house in which he lodged was not 

Y 



322 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



quite five miles from Taunton.* This was a 
question about which conscientious magistrates, and 
those for whom they a6ted, desired to be mathe- 
matically exaft. According to a statute of Queen 
Elizabeth, a mile measured just 1760 yards, and 
therefore it was now illegal for an ejedted minister 
to dwell within a distance of just five times that 
measurement of road from the utmost bend in the 
boundary of his former parish. In a doubtful 
case, a clergyman has been known to have the 
ground measured in the night, so as to compel his 
Nonconformist predecessor to move a few yards 
further off.f Philip Henry was charged with living 
within the prescribed limit of distance from his old 
church. It was a frivolous and vexatious charge ; 
to still the cavillers, however, he took the chain 
into his own hand, and measured the distance, 
taking care, before doing so, to be justified by 



* The two towns are nearly seven miles apart ; but the parish of 
Hill Bishops joins that of Taunton, and lies between it and Wel- 
lington. Mr. Newton was minister of both parishes, the duties of 
the former being chiefly performed by a chaplain, Mr. N. Charlton. 
Having been Mr. Newton's assistant, Mr. Alleine's ministry was 
regarded as having had the same parochial extent ; and the informer 
probably contended that from the limit of Hill Bishops the outer- 
most parish, to the house at which he lodged on this side Wellington, 
there was not quite five miles space. 

\ This Nonconformist was the learned Benjamin Woodbury, 
who had just refused a canonry of Windsor, offered on condition 
of his conformity. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 323 

a Scripture text, which he found in Deuteronomy 
xxi. 2.* 

Mr. Alleine made no attempt to argue the case ; 
but, as the person in whose house he had found 
shelter was threatened with imprisonment in conse- 
quence, he immediately went back to Taunton, 
saying, cc Blessed be the Lord, I shall now give up 
two lives for Christ ; the one in doing for Him, 
the other in suffering for Him. I am worn out in 
doing for Him ; and now I can do no more, shall 
I suffer no more for His sake ?"f In the face of 
many dangers, both to host and guest, he found in 
his own parish many houses open to him ; and he 
went from one to the other, adopting the language 
of holy Mr. Dodd, " I have a hundred houses for 
one I part with." 

Though a sick man, and greatly needing rest, 
we are told that he gladly lived this life of changes, 
because " he knew not how soon he might be carried 
again from his people to prison ; and, by living 
with them successively, he had opportunity of 
being intimately acquainted with them, and the 
state of their souls ; how it fared with their children 
and servants ; and how they performed their duties 
to each other in their families." These were only 
visits ; and his real home all the time was Fullands, 



# Philip Henry's Life, p. 108. 
f Notes by Mr. F., in whose house he lodged. 
Y 2 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



the house of Mr. John Mallack, a merchant who 
lived about a mile from the town.* cc Here/' Mrs. 
Alleine says, cc he was exceedingly taken with 
God's mercy to him, in Mr. Mallack' s entertaining 
him and me so bountifully, the house and gardens 
and walks being a great delight to him, being so 
pleasant and curious, and all accommodation within 
so suitable, that he would often say that he did as 
Dives, fare deliciously every day." 

About this time, three probationers were ordained 
in Somersetshire to the Christian ministry, and 
there is reason to believe that Mr. Mallack's house 
was the scene of the event. Theses were read, 
examination was gone through on difficult points 
of divinity, Mr. Alleine offered the ordination 
prayer, and then Mr. Ames Short, Mr. Thomas 
Lye, Mr. William Ball, Mr. Robert Atkins, and 
Mr. John Kerridge, together set the young men 
apart to the work of Christ cc by the laying on of 
hands. "j* cc We never heard of these preachers 
before, — well-meaning men, perhaps, though of 
course sad annoyances to the authorised and learned 
clergy, — pity that they left their original vocation 
of the plough, the loom, or the last." So says the 
believer in Clarendon or Walker. But the simple 



* It appears from a tablet in the church that (i John Mallack, of 
Fullands, gentleman, departed this life November 23, i6j% " Ful- 
lands-house is now occupied as a school. 

f Life of Trosse, by J. H. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



3*5 



man has been imposed upon. All were gentlemen ; 
all were scholars of distinction at one or other of the 
universities ; although all were now wandering, 
poor, and homeless. Great indeed had been their 
reverses ; but all might have kept caste, and most 
might have enjoyed preferment, if conscience had 
allowed them to conform. Golden persuasives to 
conformity had been offered and refused. One 
of them, praised by the bishop of Chester as one 
of the best preachers in the country, had refused 
great offers, made particularly by the lord-lieutenant 
of Ireland ; cf but the offer of a mitre could not 
move him to adt contrary to his sentiments."* 
Another, who had been urged in vain to accept a 
deanery, had, within a few days of this ordination 
service, been pursued by dragoons, been searched 
for in chimneys, chests, and boxes, and had at last 
escaped safely to Taunton through the bravery of 
his son, a little child, who refused to betray his 
father's hiding-place, even when a pistol was held 
to his breast by a constable, who furiously demanded 
to know the secret. George Trosse, the only one 
of the three candidates whose name is known, was 
himself cc a good clerke of Oxenford," and no mean 
scholar. cc He afterwards confessed to a friend 
that he had read over all the books in his study, 
besides about sixty folios which stood in his bed- 



* Calamy on Atkins. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



chamber, and that he had read over the Bible, in 
English^ Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French, a 
hundred and a hundred times."* " Though fired 
with holy zeal," writes his biographer, " he had 
some hesitation about entering upon the sacred 
office before ; but when the Oxford A£t drove 
Dissenting ministers from cities, corporations, and 
their own benefices, he consented, and was solemnly 
set apart to the work."f Solemnly indeed ! solemnly 
set apart to a ministry which could only be exer- 
cised in partial safety at midnight meetings in the 
woods ; solemnly set apart to scorn, penury, and 
bonds, for the sake of Christ's holy Gospel ; 
solemnly set apart to such a life by reverend men 
who were themselves passing through its great 
tribulation. We must search the legends of primi- 
tive martyrs and fathers to find an ordination scene 
of equal solemnity. It ill becomes the church 
of the conventicle to treat with disrespect the 
solemnities peculiar to a church installed in cathe- 
drals, enriched with the spoils of ancient Romanism, 
and adorned with the spells of royalty, of chivalry, 
and of historical prescription ; but it adts a still less- 
becoming part when, with bustle and flaunting 
show, it seeks to rival such attractions. From its 
very nature it never can succeed, however it may 



* Gilling's Life of Trosse, 1715, p. 33. 
f Gilling. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 327 



stoop to try. The effort is as needless as it is 
useless, for it has its own poetry, its own grand 
and moving stories, and its own powers of im- 
pression, although they are not of this world, — 
they are only of the kind shown in the lives of our 
ancestors, and in the truths for which they lived 
and died. 

Still weak and sickly, it was deemed needful for 
Mr. Alleine to take a second pilgrimage to Devizes 
to drink the mineral waters. Before setting out, 
he resolved to convene his friends, and set apart a 
day of thanksgiving for all mercies to him and 
them. Accordingly, on the ioth of July, 1666, 
there was a large assembly gathered at Fullands to 
keep this festival of praise. He then preached from 
the words of David, cc He hath not dealt so with 
any nation. Praise ye the Lord." — Psalm clxvii. 20. 
The following is a sketch of the discourse: — As 
God deals with singular mercy to His people, they 
owe Him singular praise. Review the historic 
mercies of the nation. The Gospel is its brightest 
mercy ; for as the earth without the sun, would be 
the land without the sun of souls. Gospel light 
was kindled in primitive times. After it had been 
clouded over for a season by the Saxon invasion, 
Austin came from Rome, and suddenly a light 
shone through the ministry of other famous 
preachers. When, after that, it was clouded again 
by the power of Antichrist, others were raised, 



328 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



some to testify by living, some by dying for the 
Word. Even the deaths of martyrs, our own kin- 
dred, have proved to be amongst the mercies of the 
church, for, according to the holy prophecy of 
Latimer, <c God hath lighted such a candle in Eng- 
land that it never shall be put out." The scat- 
tering of the Spanish Armada — the detedion of the 
gunpowder plot— and other deliverances from the 
power of darkness, were all our mercies, though not 
in our days, for God hath thus kept alive that light 
which He once commanded into the nation. But 
come nearer and look upon Taunton, the place of 
our solemnities and desires, and you shall find that 
He hath not dealt so with any other place. No 
need, like David, to bemoan yourselves that you 
dwell in the tents of Kedar. Threescore years 
hath God waited on Taunton, and you have all 
been born under the powerful preaching of the 
Word. Even until now, your eyes behold your 
teachers — He hath not dealt so with other places ; 
there, excellent lights have been put out, and you 
scarce find even the footsteps of religion. You 
behold many maintaining the profession of the 
Gospel, but many parishes there are whose pro- 
fessors are so few that they are for signs and 
wonders to be pointed at. You behold cc how 
good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity." Bless the Lord that the hearts 
of believers have all been made one in this place. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN, 



3^9 



Bless the Lord, you His people, because the Lord 
hath blessed you with peace ! 

By far the larger part of the sermon relates to 
the peculiar mercies belonging to God's peculiar 
people. In the course of these appeals he says, 
cc He doth single you out before the world, to tell 
the world what a God can do for a poor creature ; 
to make you the monuments of His magnificence 
and bounty ; to show how He could exalt the dust 
of the earth. This is the use you serve for in the 
world. Do not live as if you were made for little 
things, and for little use ; you are made for this 
use — that you should be vessels prepared to have 
the infinite fulness of God pouring into you, as 
vessels standing by for the same purpose, and run- 
ning over to all eternity, when you shall be ever 
full and running over with the glory of God — when 
the all-sufficiency of God shall be for ever emptying 
itself into you. How is it that God hears no more 
of you ? Hath He done so for any other ?" 

In the close he says, cc What if in this world you 
suffer more than others ? 

cc You are better fed than others ; for God 
Almighty hath fed you by extraordinary provi- 
dence. 

cc You are better taught than others. — Who is 
like to you, O people, about whose tents the manna 
always raineth ? 

" You have more promises than others. — Now 



33° 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



there are come in to us a whole shoal of promises, 
that we would not so properly claim before. 

f c God hath honoured you more than others. — 
To others with you it is given to believe ; but to 
you it is given to suffer for His sake ; which the 
apostle reckons as a step higher than others can 
attain. — (Phil. i. 29.) 

Cf God hath intrusted you with His honour more 
than others. He hath put more into your hands, 
than into the hands of any other. God's glory is 
trusted more with the sufferers of Christ than with 
any others. O be infinitely tender of His honour ! 
See that you love Him more than others ; praise 
Him more than others." 

While all were lost in thoughts like these, the 
door was suddenly shattered open, and in burst 
helter-skelter, with a crash of harsh laughter, a party 
of men flourishing drawn swords. Two magistrates 
hounded them on, and in a moment the scene was 
one of clamour and fury. The door had not been 
fastened, but the heroes adopted this method of 
opening it, in preference to the usual one of lifting 
the latch, in order to render the ceremony of their 
entrance more impressive. With much abusive 
language the names of all present were taken down, 
and the constables charged to bring them next day 
before the justices assembled at the Castle Tavern, 
" there to be dealt with akordin to law." They 
appeared at the time appointed, and after two days' 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



33 1 



tedious attendance, were all cf convi&ed of a conven- 
ticle/' and sentenced to a fine of three pounds each, 
or to be committed to prison threescore days. Of 
the persons thus sentenced, few paid the fine, or 
allowed others to do it for them. Mr. Alleine, 
therefore, with his wife, his aged father, seven 
ministers, and forty private persons, were com- 
mitted to the prison at Ilchester. 

A sufferer in the same cause was at that time 
singing in a distant prison : — 

" 'Tis not the baseness of this state 
Doth hide us from God's face ; 
He frequently, both soon and late, 
Doth visit us with grace. 

u Here come the angels, here come saints, 
Here comes the Spirit of God, 
To comfort us in our restraints 
Under the wicked's rod." 

This might have been the song of our impri- 
soned congregation. Indeed it was in spirit the 
song of their minister, for he is reported to have 
said to his wife, cc Well, though we have not our 
attendants and servants as the great ones and the 
rich of the world have, we have the blessed angels 
of God still to wait on us, to minister to us, to 
watch over us while we are sleeping; ready to be 
with us when journeying again, and still to preserve 
us from the rage of men and devils." The prison 
had but little gloom in it for him, and was allowed 
to place no check upon his labours. He ministered 



33 2 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



sedulously to those members of his flock who were 
there, and the rest he visited by letters, eight of 
which have been printed. Two sermons were 
preached nearly every day ; and he invariably took 
his turn in preaching, as well as in other devotional 
exercises. His last exhortation, delivered on the 
morning of the day when he and those who were 
committed with him were set free, has been thus 
preserved in the short-hand notes of a listener : — 

w Dearly beloved Brethren, — My time is little, and my 
strength but small, yet I could not consent that you 
should pass without receiving some parting counsel ; and 
what I have to say at parting shall be chiefly to you that 
are prisoners, and partly also to you our friends, that are 
here met together. To you that are prisoners, I shall 
speak something by way of exhortation, and something by 
way of dehortation. 

cc By way of Exhortation. 

" First. — Rejoyce with trembling in your prison comforts, 
and see that you keep them in a thankful remembrance. 
Who can tell the mercies that you have received here ? 
My time nor strength will not suffice me to recapitulate 
them. See that you rejoyce in God, but rejoyce with 
trembling. Do not think the account will be little for 
mercies so many and so great. Receive these choice 
mercies with a trembling hand, for fear lest you should 
be found guilty of misimproving such precious benefits, 
and so wrath should be upon you from the Lord. Re- 
member Hezekiah's case: great mercies did he receive ; 
some praises did he return, but not according to the benefit 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. ^33 



done unto him ; therefore was wrath upon him from the 
Lord, and upon all Judah for his sake, (2 Chron. xxxii. 
25.) Therefore go away with a holy fear upon your 
hearts, lest you should forget the loving-kindness of the 
Lord, and should not render to Him according to what 
you have received. 

" Oh, my brethren, stir up yourselves to render praise to 
the Lord. You are the people that God hath formed for 
His praise, and sent hither for His praise -> and you should 
now go home as so many trumpets to sound forth the 
praises of God, when you come among your friends. 
There is an expression (Psalm lxviii. 11) c The Lord 
gave the word, great was the company of them that 
published it. 9 So let it be said of the praises of God now, 
great was the company of them that published them. 
God hath sent a whole troop of you here together, let all 
these go home and sound the praises of God wherever 
you come ; and this is the way to make His praise 
glorious indeed. Shall I tell you a story that I have 
read ? — There was a certain king that had a pleasant 
grove, and that he might make it every way delightful to 
him, he caused some birds to be caught, and to be kept 
up in cages, till they had learned sundry sweet and artificial 
tunes ; and when they were perfect in their lessons, he 
let them abroad out of their cages into his grove, that 
while he was walking in this grove he might hear them 
singing those pleasant tunes, and teaching them to other 
birds that were of a wilder note. Brethren, this King is 
God, this grove is His church, these birds are yourselves, 
this cage is the prison ; God hath sent you hither, that 
you should learn the sweet and pleasant notes of His 
praise. And I trust that you have learned something all 
this while, God forbid else. Now God opens the cage, 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 



and lets you forth into the grove of His church, that you 
may sing forth His praises, and that others may learn of 
you too. Forget not, therefore, the songs of the house 
of your pilgrimage, do not return to your wild notes again ; 
keep the mercies of God for ever in a thankful remem- 
brance, and make mention of them humbly as long as you 
live y then shall you answer the end for which He sent 
you hither. I trust you will not forget this place. 
When Queen Mary died, she said, That after her death 
they should find Calais on her heart. I hope that men 
shall find by you hereafter, that the prison is upon your 
hearty Uchester is upon your heart. 

u Secondly. Feed and feast your faith upon prison-expe- 
rience. Do not think that God hath done this only for 
your present supply. Brethren, God hath provided for 
you, not only for your present supply in prison, but to lay 
up for all your lives that experience that your faith must 
live upon, till faith be turned into vision. Learn depend- 
ence upon God, and confidence in God, by all the expe- 
riences that you have had here. c Because thou hast 
been my help (saith the Psalmist), therefore under the 
shadow of thy wing will I rejoice/ Are you at a loss at 
any time? then remember your bonds. We read in 
Scripture of a time when there was no smith in all Israel, 
and the Israelites were fain to carry their goads and other 
instruments, to be sharpened, down to the Philistines. 
So when your spirits are low, and when your faith is dull, 
carry them to the prison to be sharpened and quickened. 
Oh, how hath the Lord confuted all our fears ! cared for 
all our necessities ! The faith of some of you was sorely 
put to it for corporal necessities. You came hither, not 
having any thing considerable to pay for your charges 
here, but God took care for that. And you left poor 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



miserable families at home, and no doubt but many trouble- 
some thoughts were in your minds, what your families 
should do for bread, but God hath provided for them. 

" We that are ministers, left poor starveling flocks, and 
we thought that the countrey had been now stript, and yet 
God hath provided for them* Thus hath the Lord been 
pleased to furnish us with arguments for our faith, against 
we come to the next distress. Though you should be 
called forth to leave your flocks destitute, you that are my 
brethren in the ministry, and others their families destitute, 
yet doubt not but God will provide. Remember your 
bonds upon all occasions. Whensoever you are in 
distress, remember your old Friend, remember your tryed 
Friend. 

" Thirdly. Let divine mercy be as oyl to the flame of 
your love : c O love the Lord, all ye His saints. 5 Brethren, 
this is the language of all God's dealings with you ; they 
all call upon you to love the Lord your God with all your 
hearts, with all your souls, with all your strength. What 
hath God been doing ever since you came to this prison ? 
All that He hath been doing since you came hither, hath 
been to pour oyl into the flames of your love, thereby to 
encrease and heighten them. God hath lost all these 
mercies upon you, if you do not love Him better than 
you did before. You have had supplies ; to what purpose 
is it, unless you love God the more ? If they that be in 
want, love Him better than you, it were better you had 
been in their case. You have had health here, but if 
they that be in sickness love God better than you, it were 
better you had been in sickness too. See that you love 
your Father, that hath been so tender of you. What 
hath God been doing, but pouring out His love upon you ? 
How were we mistaken ? For my part, I thought that 



336 FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



God took us upon His knee to whip us, but He took us 
upon His knee to dandle us. We thought to have felt 
the strokes of His anger, but He hath stroked us as a 
father his children, with most dear affection. Who can 
utter His loving kindness! What! (my brethren) shall 
we be worse than publicans ? The publicans will love those 
that love them. Will not you return love for so much 
love ? Far be this from you, brethren ; you must not 
only exceed the publicans, but the Pharisees too ; there- 
fore, surely you must love Him that loveth you. This is 
my business now to bespeak your love to God, to unite 
your hearts to Him ; blessed be God for this occasion ; 
for my part I am unworthy of it. Now, if I can get your 
hearts nearer to God than they were, then happy am I, 
and blessed are you. Fain I would, that all these expe- 
riences should knit our hearts to God more, and endear 
us for ever to Him. What ! so much bounty and kind- 
ness and no returns of love ? At least no further returns ? 
I may plead in behalf of the Lord with you, as they did 
for the centurion : c He loveth our nation (say they) and 
hath built us a synagogue.' So I may say here, He hath 
loved you, and poured out His bounty upon you. How 
many friendly visits from those that you could expect but 
little of? Whence do you think this came ? It is God 
that hath the key of all these hearts. He secretly turned 
the cock, and caused them to pour forth kindness upon 
you. There is not a motion of love in the heart of a 
friend towards you, but it was God that put it in. 

" Fourthly. — Keep your manna in a golden pot, and 
forget not Him that hath said so often, c Remember me.' 
You have had manna rained plentifully about you; be 
sure that something of it be kept. Do not forget all the 
sermons that you have heard here ; O that you would 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



337 



labour to repeat them over, to live them over ; you have 
had such a stock that you may live upon, and your friends 
too (if you be communicative), a great while together. If 
anything have been wanting, time for the digesting hath 
been wanting. See that you well chew the cud, and see 
that you especially remember the feasts of love. Do not 
you know who hath said to you so often, c Remember 
me V How often have you heard that sweet word since 
you came hither ? What ! Do you think it is enough 
to remember Him for an hour? No, but let it be a living 
and lasting remembrance. Do not you write that name 
of His in the dust, that hath written your names upon 
His heart. Your High Priest hath your names upon His 
heart, and therewith is entered into the holy place, and 
keeps them there for a memorial before the Lord con- 
tinually. O that His remembrance might be ever written 
upon your hearts, written as with a pen of a diamond, 
upon tables of marble, that might never be worn out ! 
That as Aristotle saith of the curious fabrick of Minerva, 
that he had so ordered the fabrick that his name was 
written in the midst, that if any went to take that out, the 
whole fabrick was dissolved. So the name of Jesus should 
be written upon the substance of your souls, that they 
should pull all asunder before they should be able to pull 
it out, 

" Fifthly. — Let the bonds of your affliction strengthen 
the bonds of your affection. Brethren, God hath sent us 
hither to teach us, among other things, the better to love 
one another. Love is lovely, both in the sight of God 
and men ; and if by your imprisonment you have profited 
in love, then you have made an acceptable proficiency. 
O brethren, look within ; are you not more endeared one 
to another ? I bless the Lord for that union and peace 

z 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



that hath been ever among you. But you must be sen- 
sible that we come very far short of that love that we owe 
one to another ; we have not that love, that indearedness 
and tenderness, and complacency, that compassion towards 
each other, that we ought to have. Ministers should be 
more endeared one to another, and Christians should be 
more dear to each other than they were before. We 
have eaten and drunk together, and lived on our Father's 
love in one family together ; we have been joined together 
in one common cause, and all put into one condition. O 
let the remembrance of a prison, and of what hath passed 
here, especially those uniting feasts, ingage you to love 
one another ! 

Cc Sixthly. — Let present indulgence fit you for future 
hardships, and do not look that your Father should be 
always dandling you on His knee. Beloved, God hath 
used you like fondlings now, rather than like sufferers. 
What shall I say ? I am at a loss when I think of the 
tender indulgence, and the yearnings of our heavenly 
Father towards us. But, my brethren, do not look for 
such prisons again. 

"Affliction doth but now play and sport with you, rather 
than bite you ; but do you look that affliction should 
hereafter fasten its teeth on you to purpose ; and do you 
look that the hand that hath now gently stroked you, may 
possibly buffet you, and put your faith hard to it, when 
you come to the next tryal. This fondness of your 
heavenly Father is to be expected only while you are 
young and tender; but afterward you must look to follow 
your business, and to keep your distance, and to have 
rebukes and frowns too when you need them. Bless 
God for what you have found here, but prepare you, this 
is but the beginning (shall I say the beginning of sorrow ? 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 



I cannot say so, for the Lord hath made it a place of 
rejoycing) ; this is but the entrance of our affliction ; but 
you must look, that when you are trained up to a better 
perfection, God will put your faith to harder exercise. 

u Seventhly. — Cast up your accounts at your return, 
and see whether you have gone as much forward in your 
souls, as you have gone backward in your estates. I 
cannot be insensible but some of you are here to very 
great disadvantage as to your affairs in the world, having 
left your business so rawly at home in your shops, trades, 
and callings, that it is like to be no little detriment to you 
upon this account. But happy are ye if you find at your 
return, that, as much as your affairs are gone backward 
and behind-hand, so much your souls have gone forward. If 
your souls go forward by grace in your sufferings, blessed 
be God that hath brought you to such a place as a 
prison is. 

" Eighthly. — Let the snuffers of this prison make your 
light burn the brighter, and see that your course and dis- 
course be the more savoury, serious, and spiritual for this 
present tryal. O brethren ! Now the voice of the Lord 
is to you, as it is in the prophet Isaiah Ix. I : — c Arise, 
and shine!' now Met your light so shine before men, 
that others may see your good works, and glorifie your 
Father which is in heaven/ It is said of those preachers 
beyond sea, that have been sent into England, and 
here reaped the benefit of our English practical divinity, 
at their return they have preached so much better than 
they had wont to do, that it hath been said of them, 
c Apparuit hunc fuisse in Angllcu So do you, my brethren, 
live so much better than you had wont, that when men 
shall see the change in your lives, they may say of you, 
c Aptaruit hunc fuisse in Custodial See that your whole 

Z 2 



34° 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN 



course and discourse be more spiritual and heavenly than 
ever ; see that you shine in your families when you come 
home ; be you better husbands, better masters, better 
fathers ; study to do more than you have done this way, 
and to approve yourselves better in your family relations 
than you did before ; that the savour of a prison may be 
upon you in all companies : then will you praise and please 
the Lord. 

" Ninthly, and lastly. — See that you walk accurately, 
as those that have the eyes of God, angels, and men upon 
you. My brethren, you will be looked upon now with 
very curious eyes. God doth expeft more of you than 
ever ; for He hath done more for you, and He looketh 
what fruit there will be of all this. Oh ! may there be a 
sensible change upon your souls by the showers that have 
fallen in prison, as there is in the greenness of the earth 
by the showers that have fallen lately abroad. 

"By way of Dehor tation also^ I have these four things 
to leave with you. 

" First. — Revile not your persecutors, but bless them, 
and pray for them, as the instruments of conveying great 
mercies to you. Do not you so far forget the rule of 
Christ, as when you come home, to be setting your 
mouths to talk against those that have injured you. 
Remember the command of your Lord-— c Bless them that 
curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you, and 
persecute you.' Whatever they intended, yet they have 
been instruments of a great deal of mercy to us ; and so 
we should pray for them, and bless God for the good we 
have received by them. 

" Secondly. — Let not the humble acknowledgment of 
God's mercy degenerate into proud, vain- glorious boast- 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 34 1 



ing, or carnal triumph. I beseech you, see that you go 
home with a great deal of fear upon your spirits in this 
respect, lest pride should get advantage of you, lest instead 
of humbly acknowledging God's mercy, there should be 
carnal boasting. Beware of this, I earnestly beg of you, 
for this will very much spoil your sufferings, and be very 
displeasing in the sight of God. But let your acknow- 
ledging of His mercy be ever with humble, self-abasing 
thankfulness, and be careful that you do not make His 
mercies to be the fuel of your pride, which were to lose 
all at once. 

" Thirdly. — Be not prodigal of your liberty upon a con- 
ceit that the prisons will be easie, not fearful of adven- 
turing yourselves in the way of your duty. Alas ! I am 
afraid of both these extreams ; on the one hand, lest some 
among us, having found a great deal of mercy here, will 
now think there is no need of any Christian prudence, 
which is always necessary, and is a great duty. It is not 
cowardice to make use of the best means to preserve our 
liberty, not declining our duty. On the other side, there 
is fear lest some may be fearful, and ready to decline their 
duty, because they have newly tasted of a prison for it. 
Far be it from you to distrust God, of whom you have 
had so great experience, but be sure you hold on in your 
duty, whatsoever it cost you. 

" Fourthly. — Do not load others with censures, whose 
judgment, or practice, differs from yours, but humbly bless 
God that hath so happily directed you. You know all 
are not of the same mind as to the circumstances of suf- 
fering, and all have not gone the same way. Far be it 
from any of you (my brethren) that you should so far for- 
get yourselves, as to be unmerciful to your brethren, but 
bless God that hath directed you into a better way. 



FREEDOM FOUND AND LOST AGAIN. 



Your charity must grow higher than ever; God forbid 
that you should increase in censures, instead of increasing 
in charity. 

" Having spoken to my fellow-prisoners, I have two 
words to speak to you, our friends and brethren with us. 

" First. — Let our experience be your incouragement. 
O love the Lord, ye our friends, love the Lord ; fear Him 
for ever \ believe in Him, trust in Him for ever, for our 
sakes; we have tasted of the kindness of God. 

u You know how good God hath been to us in 
spirituals and in temporals. Encourage your hearts in the 
Lord your God, serve Him the more freely and gladly for 
our sakes. You see we have tryed, we have tasted how 
good the Lord is ; do you trust Him the more, because 
we have tryed Him so much, and found him a Friend so 
faithful, so gracious, that we are utterly unable to speak 
His praise. Go on and fear not in the way of your duty; 
verily there is a reward for the righteous. God hath 
given us a great reward already, but this is but the least ; 
we look for a kingdom. 

" Secondly, and lastly, — My desire is to our friends, that 
they will all help us in our praises. Our tongues are too 
little to speak forth the goodness and the grace of God, 
do you help us in our praises. Love the Lord the better, 
praise Him the more, and what is wanting in us, let it be 
made good by you. O that the praises of God may 
sound abroad in the country by our means, and for our 
sakes." 



Chapter XIV. 
Saint, pet Pursuing:. 

" Oh what a Iwelie life, what he a<venlie power, 
What spreading virtue, what a sparkling fire ; 
How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower, 
Dost thou within this dying flesh inspire" 

SIR JOHN DAVIES. 

OME time before the prisoners left 
Ilchester, they heard of the great fire in 
London, in which more than thirteen 
thousand houses were consumed. The 
spirit of the times was curiously shown, day by day, 
in the various popular accounts and speculations 
that came drifting in to them along with the news. 
Some persons thought that the disaster was the work 
of the Romanists ; others thought that surely the 
Baptists had set the houses on fire ; indeed, this charge 
had actually been reported in a letter from the 




344 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



Court ; how, then, could it be doubted !* Opinions 
in the outside world were equally conflicting as to the 
particular lesson which this judgment was intended 
to teach the nation. Some said that it marked the 
displeasure of Heaven at the leniency shown by 
the church to Nonconformists ;f others declared it 
to be the terrible voice of God to the chiefs in 
Church and State, crying, cf Let my people go, 
that they may serve me ; and if ye will not, behold, 
thus and thus I will do unto you." J Our friends 
probably inclined to the latter belief, but to their 
honour, their deep concern took a practical rather 
than a speculative form. Affliction had made 
them know cc the heart of a stranger," and taught 
them to sympathise with the citizens who, shelter- 
less and in despair, were wandering over the fields 
in sight of the waste where their homes had been. 
They longed to help them, but what could they 



* Attempts were made to bring fresh odium on the 6 seel every- 
where spoken against ' by charging on its members this evil deed. 
Among other instances see a letter from the Duke of Buckingham, 
September 6, 1666, who says, " A great many Anabaptists have 
been taken setting houses on fire." — MS. in the Guildhall Library. 
Gf course these charges were brought by informers in pay of the 
Government. 

f Seth Ward, bishop of Exeter, preached a sermon before the 
House of Lords, October io, 1666, in which he laboured to prove 
that the fire was intended to establish the church, by rousing Govern- 
ment " to uphold religion in the sincerity and uniformity thereof, to 
prevent it from undermining toleration." 

% Philip Henry. 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



345 



do ? Though they would be soon out of prison, 
it would be with the prospect of soon entering it 
again. Their trade was gone ; all the world was 
against them ; and poor as they had been made by 
a life of penalties, on them alone rested the respon- 
sibility of keeping alive their many ministers and 
co-religionists who had been made poorer still. 
However, the first thing they did when set free, 
was to join in making a collection for the sufferers 
in London. To this collection Mr. Alleine gave 
a sum, which from its liberal proportion was in- 
tended to be a stimulus to others, and, at the same 
time, as it was afterwards discovered, he gave 
more than as much in secret. In this way he and 
his people offered God praise for their deliverance. 
To be grateful, is something more than to feel 
beautiful and bounding sensations of delight, to offer 
complimentary acknowledgments in language, or to 
thunder back thanksgiving songs ; it is essentially 
a practical thing, and its first question is, " What 
shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits ? " 
So they thought. 

His last imprisonment, both by its direct in- 
fluence, and by depriving him of his intended visit 
to Devizes, had greatly increased his disorder. 
All through the winter and spring it continued to 
gain ground; but, weak as he was, he preached, kept 
many days of fasting and thanksgiving, and fre- 
quently administered the Lord's Supper to his people. 



346 



FAINT, VET PURSUING. 



In June, 1667, he went to Devizes again. In- 
formers, constables, distraining officers, turnkeys, 
and such-like disreputable ministers of religion, were 
not so adtive here as in some other places. On this 
account, therefore, as well as on account of the 
medicinal advantages which the sick man primarily 
sought, Devizes was always an attractive retreat. 
In a letter to Taunton he thus alludes to it : — 

cc You may not think that I have forgotten you, 
and consulted my own ease and pleasure : but if 
God prosper my intentions, I shall be found to have 
been daily serving you in this retirement. I will 
assure you, I am very tender of preserving all that 
little strength that God doth add to me entirely for 
your sakes. I bless the Lord I am in great tran- 
quillity here in this town, and walk up and down 
the corporation without any questioning me. I 
seem to myself to be retired to this place, as a 
vessel rent and shatter' d and torn in the service, 
that is come to recruit in the harbour. And here I 
am, as it were, rigging, and repairing, and victual- 
ling, to put forth again in the service ; which I 
shall do with the first wind, as soon as I am 
ready." 

A week after this he writes : — <c I longed to hear 
of your welfare, butjby reason of the carryer's in- 
termitting his journeys, could not till now obtain 
my desires, neither had I opportunity till the last 
week of writing to you. I rejoyce to hear, by 



FAINT, TET PURSUING. 



347 



Mr. Ford, of God's continual goodness towards 
you ; He is your Shepherd, and therefore it is that 
you do not want. c Me you have not always, but 
He is ever with you, His rod and His staff shall 
comfort you.' 

" O beloved flock, I may give you the salutation 
of the angels, f Hail, you are highly favoured of 
the Lord, blessed are you among men though 
you are but poor and despised, like little Ben- 
jamin among the thousands of Judah, you carry 
away the blessing and the privilege from all the 
rest. God hath done more for the least of you 
than for the whole world of mankind besides, put 
all their mercies together. Fear not, little flock, it 
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
kingdom. 6 Blessed are you of the Lord, for yours 
is the kingdom of heaven.' All that the Scripture 
speaks of that kingdom of glory, that kingdom of 
peace, of righteousness, that everlasting kingdom, 
it speaks to you. Behold your inheritance, see 
that you believe. 

cc I charge you to beware of the world. When 
Saul had gotten his kingdom, he left off taking care 
for the asses. O remember, yours is the kingdom ! 
What are you the better that you have all this in 
your Bibles, if you do not weigh it by frequent and 
serious consideration, and ponder these sayings in 
your hearts ? Beloved, I have written these things 
to you, that your joy may be full." 



348 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



While staying at Devizes, several old clerical friends 
of his, living there or in the county, would, when 
they heard of his visit, seize the rare chance of 
spending an hour in his company. 

One of these was Mr. Timothy Sacheverell, of 
Trinity College, Oxford, and late minister of Tarrant 
Hinton. At this time he was living at Winterbourne 
in Wilts, but would be occasionally at Devizes, and 
soon made it his home. He was held in extraordi- 
nary resped: even by his opponents. Bishop Kennett 
speaks of his cc great worth, temper, and learning."* 
He was fervent in spirit, serving the Lord ; and 
although no Syrian hermit was ever a greater lover 
of peace, no knight of Gothic romance was ever 
inspired with a grander bravery. Not long before 
this visit, while he was kneeling in prayer with his 
family one morning, several troopers rushed into 
the room, and one of them, holding a pistol at his 
back, commanded him in the King's name imme- 
diately to stand up, but he still continued praying, 
When he had concluded, he rose and calmly asked 
the trooper how he durst thus pretend in the 
King's name to interrupt him, while he and his 
family were piesenting, their petitions to the King 
of kings ! 

Another person of note amongst the Noncon- 
formists here was Mr. Benjamin F flower, the 



Register, p; 915^ 



faint: yet: pursuing. 



349 



ejedted vicar of Cardiff. His family, like that of 
Mr. Alleine, had been known about the neighbour- 
hood of Devizes for some centuries past, and these 
had lately been drawn yet more closely together by 
intermarriages. Though not yet living in the town, 
his house was not far away, and he would not 
negled: this opportunity of seeing his eminent 
kinsman. Mr. Fflower was a man of glowing 
piety, and his great labours have led to his being 
called cc the Apostle of Wiltshire Dissenters." 
Shortly after this interview, a Presbyterian church 
was organized in the town, and he became its first 
pastor ; and perhaps we may have leave for a 
moment to glance beyond the strid limit of this 
history just to notice the fad, that this gentleman, 
in his own belief at least, lived to be the last 
survivor of the two thousand confessors. Pre- 
served in the archives of this church, there is 
a paper extracted from the diary of Defoe's 
friend, Thomas Webb, once a member, in which 
the story of the pastor's resignation is thus 
related: — 

cc 1709. April 10. — The reverend Father in 
God,* Mr. Benjamin Fflower, administered the 
Lord's Supper to us, this day being by him desired 



* ' Those ministers who beget converts to Christ may most 
properly be called Fathers in Gody — Sermon on 1 Cor. iv. 15, 
preached by Mr. Atkins before Bishop Gauden, in 1662. 



35° 



FAINT TET PURSUING. 



to be his last day of doing so; his great age, 
being eighty-two years old, not admitting him to 
take the journey, or so hard work upon him ; 
therefore he desired the whole work might be 
left to Mr. Chauncey,* and he excused, which was 
agreed unto. And so accordingly, after the Sacra- 
ment, he took his leave of us, which made tears 
run from the eyes of almost all the congregation, 
telling us he was superannuated for the work, and 
he knew not one alive but himself that was thrust 
out by the Bartholomew A6t ; all his brethren 
having got the start of him, and got home before 
him ; and what he was left behind so long for, 
God only knew ! But we have received much 
good from his lips ; they have dropped honey and 
the honey-comb !"f 

Another, whose friendly face might be some- 
times seen, was Mr. William Gough, of Queen's 
College, Cambridge, who, since the passing of the 
Five-Mile Aft, had been minister of a Baptist con- 
gregation at Earl Stoke, a little over five miles from 
Devizes, but he was frequently in the town, and 
was afterwards a pastor here. 

It is certain that he often saw the excluded vicar 



* Mr. Chauncey died at Devizes, May 26, 1750. — Wilson MS. 

f This MS. furnishes a clear refutation of the report printed by 
Bishop Kennett, to the effecl " that Mr. Fflower, after the 
Restoration, returned to his native country in Gloucestershire, con- 
formed, and had a benefice there." — Kennett's Register. 



FAINT, TET PURSUING. 



35 1 



of Compton, worthy Mr. Frayling, a meek-looking 
old scholar, in shabby skull-cap and threadbare 
cloak, who at this time, and ever since his trouble, 
had preached at Devizes secretly, on alternate 
Sundays, with Mr. Obadiah Wills.* There, and 
in surrounding places, he kept on his patient services 
even after he was blind with years, and had to be 
led by a friend across the downs from village 
to village. When he died, his neighbour Mr. 
Gough eulogized him as cc a Moses for meek- 
ness, a Nathaniel for uprightness, and one of 
Eliphaz's happy men, who came to his grave in 
full age." 

Another of Mr. Alleine's companions during 
this month was Mr. Ford, once one of the most 
famous tutors at Magdalen College, Oxford, and 
after that, a member of the Westminster Assembly. 
It is pleasant to pidure these doffores umbratici 
together, enjoying a short holiday for once in their 
lives, now walking through the fields in company, 
now standing by the cc bowery clefts and leafy 
shelves " of the lane-side, where the spring is flow- 
ing, and now meeting in some cottage or garden- 
croft to a feast of yet holier happiness. In some 
of their meeting-places, however, great secrecy was 
needed, and watchers had to be on the look-out, for 
their happiness was likely to suffer interruption 



* Obadiah Wills, M.A., formerly reftor of Alton Priors. 



35 2 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



from visitors, profane as the harpies that descended 
on the feast of iEneas. 

But their intercourse was made peculiarly solemn 
by the sudden though joyful death of Mr. Tobie 
Alleine. 

Joseph writes : — Cf It hath pleased the Lord to add 
to my afflidion since my coming by taking 
away my dear father, — the day of whose glorious 
translation was the day after my arriving here. 
But I bless the Lord, I do believe and exped the 
return of the Redeemer with all His saints, and the 
most glorious resurrection of my own dead body 
with all believers ; and this makes me to rest in 
hope, and fills me with unspeakably more joy than 
the death of myself or any other saint can with 
grief." 

This trouble came not alone. The waters failed 
to produce the usual effe6t on the invalid, and in 
July he was stricken down with a fever. When to 
all appearance he was lying at the point of death, 
he didtated a long letter to his people, closing with 
this prayer : — 

cc O Father of spirits, that hath set me over thy 
flock to watch for their souls, as one that must 
give an account; I have long studied thy will, 
and taught in thy name, and do unfeignedly bless 
thee that any have believed my report. I have 
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, 
and they have received them. I have manifested 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



353 



thy name unto them, and they have kept thy 
Word. And now I am no more with them, but I 
come unto thee. Holy Father, keep them through 
thine own name ; for they are thine. As they 
have kept the word of thy patience, so keep thou 
them in the hour of temptation. They are but a 
flock — a little and a helpless flock — but thou art 
their Shepherd ; suffer them not to want ; do thou 
feed them and fold them ; let thy rod and thy 
staff comfort them, and let not the beasts of prey 
fall upon them to the spoiling of their souls. 

cc But what shall I do for them that will not be 
gathered ? I have called after them, but they would 
not answer ; I have charged them in thy name, but 
they would not hear ; I have studied to speak 
persuasively to them, but I cannot prevail. Then 
I said, I have laboured in vain ; I have spent my 
strength for nought, and in vain ; yet I cannot give 
them over, much less may I give Thee over. Lord, 
persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem. 
Lord, compel them to come in, and lay the hands of 
mercy upon them, as thou didst on lingering Lot, 
and bring them forth, that they may escape for 
their lives and not be consumed. Lord, I pray 
thee, open their eyes that they may see, and lay 
hold upon their hearts by thy omnipotent grace. 
Do thou turn them, and they shall be turned. O 
bring back the miserable captives, and suffer not 
the enemy of mankind to drive away the most of 



354 



FAINT, VET PURSUING. 



the flock before mine eyes, and to deride the fruit- 
less endeavours of thy labourers, and boast over 
them, that he can do more with them, though he 
seek to ruine them, than all the beseechings, counsels 
and charges of thy servants that seek to save them. 
Lord, if I could find out anything that would pierce 
them, that would make its way into their hearts, 
thou knowest I would use it. But I have been 
many years pleading thy cause in vain ; O let not 
these endeavours also be lost ! O God, find out 
every ignorant, every prophane sinner, every 
prayerless soul, and every prayerless family, and 
convince them of their miserable condition while 
without thee in the world. Set thy image upon 
their souls — set up thy worship in their families. 
Let not pride, ignorance, or slothfulness, keep them 
in negledt of the means of knowledge. Let thine 
eyes be over the place of my desires for good, from 
one end of the year to the other end thereof. Let 
every house therein be a seminary of religion ; and 
let those that cast their eyes upon these lines find 
thee sliding in by the secret influence of thy grace 
into their hearts, and irresistably engaging them to 
do thy pleasure. Amen, amen." 

In six weeks' time the sentence of death seemed 
to be revoked, and he was able to travel back to 
Taunton. He only remained there for a short 
period, and in September we find him at Dor- 
chester. 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



355 



There lived at Dorchester, in those days, fc a 
very worthy and reverend physician/' one Dr. 
Loss, a great helper to the persecuted ministers, 
whose Latin memoranda respecting them afforded 
assistance to Antony Wood.* Unhappily, that 
note-book, though much searched for lately, cannot 
be found. Most likely it contains some account 
of Mr. Alleine's last days, for the do6lor became 
his kind friend. Till now they had never met, but 
prescriptions and medicines had come by carrier. 
Now, a personal interview was needful, and this was 
the reason for the journey. 

Dr. .Loss advised Mr. and Mrs. Alleine to stay 
in the town for a fortnight ; but the small-pox then 
raging everywhere, they could not hire a chamber, 
and were in great perplexity until a certain Widow 
Bartlettf found out their inn, and courteously 
invited them home. Two or three days after this, 
the sick man suddenly lost the use of all his limbs. 
Looking at his dead hands, he said, cc the Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be 
the name of the Lord." He could not lift a finger. 
Two attendants were needed even to turn him in 
bed, and this they sometimes did forty times in a 
night. In this living death he lay from September 



* Athenae, iii. 404. Lansdown MSS. 1236, folio 104. 
f Mr. Bartlett had been minister at Tiverton, and, it is said, great 
labours hastened his end. — Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. i., p. 464. 
A A 2 



35 6 



FAINT, TET PURSUING. 



the 28th to November the 16th, and all through 
the winter there was but little change. But even 
this forlorn estate had its alleviations ; for when the 
Nonconformists of the place knew of his presence 
and affliction, all were constantly eager to cheer 
him with new surprises of kindness. 

The dodor came twice every day for fourteen 
weeks, ever refusing fees ; and the gentry living near 
supplied everything that could be invented to give 
him comfort. All this made him say, cc I was a 
stranger, and Mercy took me in ; in prison, and 
Mercy came to me ; I was sick, and Mercy 
visited me." 

Some old friends from Taunton having come 
to see him once more, he was much revived. 
Propped up with pillows, and the curtains drawn 
back, " He desired them," says Mrs. Alleine, cc all 
to stand round the bed, and would have me take 
out his hand and hold it forth, that they might 
shake his hand though he could not shake theirs." 
Then, as he was able, he thus spake to them : — 

" O how it rejoices my heart to see your faces 
and to hear your voices, though I cannot speak as 
heretofore to you. Methinks I am now like old 
Jacob, with all his sons about him. Now you see 
my weak estate ; thus have I been for many weeks 
since I parted with Taunton, but God hath been 
with me, and I hope with you ; your prayers have 
been heard and answered for me, many ways ; the 



FAINT, VET PURSUING. 



357 



Lord return them into your own bosoms. My 
friends, life is mine, death is mine ; in that covenant 
I was preaching of to you, is all my salvation and 
all my desire ; although my body do not prosper, 
I hope, through grace, my soul doth. 

" I have lived a sweet life by the promises, and 
I hope, through grace, can die by a promise. It 
is the promises of God, which are everlasting, that 
will stand by us. Nothing but God in them will 
stead us in a day of affliction. 

cc My dear friends, I now feel the power of 
those dodxines I preached to you, on my heart — 
the do&rines of faith, of repentance, of self-denial, 
of the covenant of grace, of contentment, and the 
rest ; O that you would live them over, now I 
cannot preach to you ! 

Cf It is a shame for a believer to be cast down 
under afflictions, that hath so many glorious privi- 
leges, justification, adoption, sancflification, and 
eternal glory. We shall be as the angels of God in 
a little while. Nay, to say the truth, believers 
are, as it were, little angels already, that live in the 
power of faith. O, my friends ! live like be- 
lievers, trample this dirty world under your feet ; 
be not taken with its comforts, nor disquieted with 
its crosses ; you will be gone out of it shortly." 

When they again came to take leave of him, he 
prayed with them as far as his weak state would 
suffer him, and, in the words of Moses and the 



35* 



FA1N% YET PURSUING. 



apostles, the same he always used after a sacrament, 
he blessed them, saying — 

Cf The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord 
cause His face to shine upon you, and give you 
peace. And the God of peace, that brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus, through the blood 
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfedt in 
every good work to do His will, working in you 
that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through 
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, for ever and ever. 
Amen." 

Then he spake thus : — 

cc Farewell, farewell, my dear friends. Remember 
me to all Taunton. I beseech you and them, if I 
never see your faces more, go home and live over 
what I have preached to you, and the Lord provide 
for you when I am gone. O ! let not all my 
labours and sufferings, let not my wasted strength, 
my useless limbs, rise up in judgment against you 
at the great day of the Lord." 

In the last week of January, 1668, modern style, 
while he was lying helpless on the bed, a messenger 
came with the heavy tidings of his brother Nor- 
man's death. Mr. Norman had evidently sunk a 
viftim to the agencies which were now wasting away 
the life of his friend. Long imprisonment had made 
the strong man weak. Determination to fulfil his 
ministry amidst persecutions, and to do by incessant 
and multiplied services, in small and secret com- 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



359 



panies, what the law forbad his doing in a public 
and comprehensive way, had made him weaker 
still. Sorrow for the sorrows of the church, and 
shame for the shame of his country, now left with- 
out a hand or a voice to vindicate her stricken 
strength or lift her degraded name, weakened him 
still more. The hardships endured by his relatives 
for nonconformity — the fines, expensive processes, 
and impediments to trade which had at last com- 
pelled Humphrey Blake, his wife's father, to sell 
the estate which the admiral had left him, and emi- 
grate with his family to Carolina,* were troubles 
which, joined to all the rest, broke his noble heart, 
and brought him to an early grave. He was not 
forty when he died. In the register of St. Mary's, 
Bridgewater, where he was buried, the officiating 
clergyman has written : — Cf Feb. 9, 1668. Johannes 
Norman, Presbiter Doffus" 

Norman and Alleine were as truly martyrs as 
were Ridley and Latimer. The only difference 
visible is, that the two former were put to death 
by Romanists — the two latter, by Protestants ; the 
former died in a fire lighted by a torch — fire that 



* Mr. Blake left two daughters in England, one married to George 
Crane, ex-M.P. for Bridgewater, the other married to Mr. John 
Norman, Sarah, his eldest daughter, afterwards married Joseph 
Moreton, Esq., governor of Carolina 5 and Joseph, his eldest son, 
succeeded Mr. Moreton to the governorship, continuing, like his 
father, a firm Dissenter. 



360 



FAINT, TET PURSUING. 



wrapped the body in its waves, and did its work in 
an hour ; the latter, in fire lighted by a legislative 
enactment, the fire of sickness and sorrow, that 
stung both body and soul — a slow, silent fire that 
lasted for years. Mr. Alleine's hour was not yet 
come, but, as Dr. Annesly said of him, cc it was 
impossible that anguish like his could continue 
long, and at last his sufferings for Christ hurried 
him to heaven in a fiery chariot."* 

A few days after this bereavement he was much 
better, and such was his strong wish to see Taunton 
again, that Dr. Loss gave his consent, though 
with many fears for the issue of the experiment. 
He was borne thither in a horse-litter, and the 
sight of friends flocking round him seemed to give 
new strength ; but it was only a deceptive excite- 
ment, to be followed by long pauses of exhaustion. 
He could not bear the joy, and was therefore 
carried out of the way to the quiet mansion at 
Fullands. The story of the few following months 
is only one of convulsions and terrific pains 
interchanging with paralysis, a story too affliding 
to write or read. Yet cc he was full of the praises 
of God for mercy," praises sung from off the rack 
of physical anguish, his spirit making cc songs in 
the night." 

The poor wife had one more hope left. They 



* Dr. Samuel Annesly, in 1692. 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



361 



would try Bath. Huddled within an old wall, a 
mere maze of five hundred houses, cc streets, 
narrow, uneven, and unpleasant," meanly built, yet 
full of loud life, the town itself would not be so re- 
viving to him as his former lodging had been, 
in the peaceful village grange ; but the <c King's 
Bathe was the fairest in Europe," and many 
of those wonderful books on the virtues of its 
waters had already been written, which, with a few 
modern ones, would Cf fill a decently-sized library."* 
About the beginning of July, when he was some- 
what stronger than usual, a horse-litter being again 
procured for him, he ventured on the journey of 
forty miles, and in two days accomplished it. 
cc The do6tors were amazed to behold such a wasted 
objedt, professing they never saw the like, much 
wondering how he was come alive, and on his 
appearance at the bathe some of the ladies were 
affrighted, as though death had come amongst 
them." In three weeks' time he was so marvel- 
lously restored, that, although he could never after- 
wards walk without assistance, physicians thought 
that there was no doubt of his ultimate re- 
covery, j- 



* Knight's Land we Live in. 

f Mr, Pepys was here a fortnight before. An interesting account 
of Bath and its visitors may be seen in his Diary, 13th, 14th, and 
15th of June, 1668. 



362 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



It was but the last bright flicker of a dying 
flame, but it was truly bright, and he made it so 
shine before men, that they, seeing his good works, 
might glorify his Father in heaven. Every day, 
from five till seven o'clock in the morning, he was 
alone for prayer, and three other short intervals 
before night were set apart for the same special 
retirement ; at seven he was carried to the bath. 
Much grieved by cc the oaths, drinking, and un- 
godly carriage of the persons of quality there, he 
did always give his faithful reproofs. His way 
was," adds his memorialist, cc first to converse of 
things that might be taking with them y for, being 
furnished by his studies for any company, he did 
use his learning for such ends, and by such means 
hath caught many souls. There were none but did 
most thankfully accept his reproofs, though close 
and plain, and showed him more resped after ; the 
vilest one among them, as I was by several informed, 
saying of him c that he never spake with such a 
man in his life.'" 

About three o'clock he used to be carried in a 
chair to visit all the schools and almshouses. When 
on these rounds, one of his efforts was to persuade 
the teachers to make the Assembly's Catechism one 
of their class-books. Many copies of it, and also 
of other small books, he would give for distribution 
amongst the scholars, and engage to come a week 
or fortnight after, to see what progress they had 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



363 



made. He always had a school of sixty or seventy 
poor children at his lodgings on Sunday, to receive 
Christian instruction — perhaps the first Sunday 
school known in all history. No wonder that such 
a novelty excited alarm, and that the threatened 
citation of several persons to Wells, before the 
bishop, to give an account of their implication in 
it, led to its dissolution. In his daily visits to the 
poor he would open searching conversations with 
them respe&ing their spiritual state, would pray 
with them, and where it was needed, bestow money. 
On one occasion he sent for all the cc godly poor " 
that could be found in the place, and gave to every 
one cc a thank-offering" for God's mercy to him. 
Also inviting all to come, with his more intimate 
friends, to join in keeping a day of thanksgiving. 
On the day appointed, Mr. John Howe, Mr. 
Fairclough and himself conducted the services. 

cc That greatest of the Puritan divines," John 
Howe, was here during these months as a homeless 
fugitive. Since black Bartholomew day he had 
procured a doubtful and slender living, by perform- 
ing any service, however humble, of which he was 
capable. cc Impelled in all probability by necessity," 
remarks Mr. Henry Rogers, cc he published his 
celebrated treatise entitled, f The Blessedness of 
the Righteous.' " This was the very time of his 
doing so. There is no need now to tell of his 
lofty life, or his well-known writings ; but, for Mr. 



364 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



Alleine's sake, it is good to know that he was a 
charming companion as well as teacher. The note- 
book of his friend Dr. Sampson gives proof of 
this, which ought to be published. Courtly and 
learned, at home as much with princes as with 
scholars, delighting to cc tilt with lance of light in 
lists of argument," pouring out in conversation a 
stream of pleasantry, sparkling anecdote, and varied 
knowledge of the world — yet most happy in 
those holiest of exercises which gave most joy to 
his suffering friend — his presence must have been 
welcome as the day. 

Mr. Richard Fairclough, the ejefted re&or of 
Mellis, was on terms of most endeared intimacy 
both with Howe and Alleine. Our knowledge of 
the latter has been assisted by a paper containing 
some of Mr. Fairclough's reminiscences. He and 
his family had parted with a thousand a year for 
nonconformity ; and now he would say to his friends, 
CC I have no treasure but in heaven." When in 
possession of his rectory he gave away all he had, 
and in his advanced life the grateful offerings of 
a few London citizens kept him from dying of 
want. In addition to these fadts, the only in- 
formation we have of this extraordinary man is 
contained in the sermon preached by Mr. Howe 
on the occasion of his death in 1682. He says 
cc that about twelve years he continued student 
(whereof divers, a fellow) and great ornament 



FAINT, VET PURSUING. 



365 



of Emanuel College, Cambridge. He was a man 
of clear, distind: understanding, of a very quick, 
discerning and penetrating judgment, that would on 
a sudden strike through knotty difficulties into the 
inward centre of truth, with such a felicity that 
things seemed to offer themselves to him which are 
wont to cost others a troublesome search." cc When 
reftor of Mellis, the fame of his preaching made 
an obscure country village soon become a most 
noted place ; from sundry miles about, thither was 
the great resort, so that I have wondered to see so 
thronged an auditory. . . . His labours here 
were almost incredible. Besides labours on the 
Lord's day, he five times in the week prayed 
and preached an expository ledture to a consider- 
able congregation ; nor did he ever produce in 
public anything which did not smell of the lamp. 
. . . . He also found time not only to visit 
the sick, but also, in a continual course, all the 
families within his charge, personally and severally 
to converse with every one that was capable, 
labouring to benefit their souls, for his whole heart 
was in his work. Every day, for many years 
together, he used to be up by three in the morning, 
or sooner, and be with God, which was his dear 
delight, while others slept. The bent of his soul 
was towards God. He was a mighty lover of 
God and men. He was ever made up of light and 
love. . . . All this made that rare and happy 



366 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



temperament with him which I cannot better express 
than by a pleasant seriousness. What friend of his 
did ever at first congress see his face but with a 
grave smile ? When unexpectedly and by surprise 
he came in among his familiar friends, it seemed as 
if he had blest the room, as if a new soul or some 
good genius had come among them."* 

These were Mr. Alleine's chief companions while 
staying at Bath. We are glad, though not sur- 
prised, to hear his wife say, fc He was now more 
cheerful than formerly, and seemed to be more 
quick in his converses, whatever he was put upon, 
either by scholars or those that were inferior ; and 
he was likewise more exceedingly affectionate in his 
carriage to me and all his friends, especially to such 
as were more heavenly, as Mr. Fairclough and his 
wife, Mr. How of Torrington, Mr. Joseph Bar- 
nard and his wife, several of our Taunton friends, 
Bristol ministers and others, which were a great 
comfort to us." 

Dr. Sampson's note-book contains an anecdote 
of a fadt connected with this visit, which we may 
here give, not so much because of its intrinsic im- 
portance, as because it has never yet been printed ; 
and because, also, it brings into the circle of our 
acquaintance the Rev. Joseph Glanvil, redtor of 
Bath Abbey, prebend of Worcester, chaplain in 



# Howe's Works, vol. iii., p. 413. — Hunt's edition. 



FAINT, YET PURSUING. 



367 



ordinary to his Majesty, and likewise a most dis- 
tinguished authority on the subject of ghosts and 
witches. 

« Of Mr. Glanvil. 

Cf When he was minister of the Bathe, he was 
very desirous to heare the converse of Mr. Howe, 
which Mr. Howe was shy to afford, though then at 
the Bathe, and therefore leisure enough. At last, he 
visits Mr. Howe, and after kind expressions pressed 
him to preach, which Mr. Howe not yielding to, he 
promised al safety imaginable : he would needs know 
the reason of this refusal. After much urging, 
Mr. Howe said, f Shal I preach for y e man who 
said he would as soon worship a Lleek or an Onion 
as the God of the Calvinists ? ' Mr. Glanvil 
pressed him hard to know who was his informer ; 
and he would not tel him. c I know/ said Mr. 
Glanvil, c how it was : when I saw that venerable 
person, Mr. Joseph Alleine there, it put such an aw 
upon me, that I knew not what I said ; I know I 
was preaching about and against the supra-lapsa- 
rians, but what, I have clene forgot.' 

cc From Mr. Howe." 

cc What a strange passion is indignation against 
a man, that we fear can over-argue and confound 
us, — either passion or pride made him mad for 



3 68 



FAINT. TET PURSUING. 



the time, or he was afterwards guilty of great 
flattery and hypocrisy."* 

Some of Mr. Glanvil's friends thought of him 
as an ingenious, amiable, not very earnest man, 
who walked circumspectly, kept his eye open 
to most chances, and had an instinctive tendency to 
the safe and sunny side of life. It was a curious 
thing in those days, it would be even in our own, 
for a church dignitary to ask a Dissenting minister 
to preach in his pulpit ; and it is much to be feared 
that Mr. Howe regarded his courtesy only as the 
vibration of a church weathercock, showing a change 
in the wind. The bitter persecution of the Dis- 
senters, combined with the utter unworthiness of 
the men who now held political and sacerdotal 
power, had led to a strong though brief re-action of 
popular feeling. Mr. Evelyn had lately predicted 
the speedy return of the nation to a commonwealth. 
Our friend, Mr. Pepys, had just written, Cf The 
Nonconformists are mighty high, and their meet- 
ings frequented and connived at, and they do expect 
to have their day soon."-)- "Mr. Hollier dined 
with my wife and me, and had much discourse 
about the bad state of the church, and how the 
clergy are become to be men of no worth in the 
world ; and as the world do now generally discourse, 



* Add. MSS. 4460. 
f- 21 December, 1667. 



FAINT, TET PURSUING. 



369 



they must be reformed, and I believe the hierarchy 
will be shaken, whether they will or no."* At the 
very time when the little incident under review 
occurred at Bath, the worthy diarist wrote : — 
"July 18. — My old acquaintance Will Swan to 
see me, who continues a factious fanatic still, and I 
do use him civilly, in expectation that these fellows 
may grow great again." By a stroke of skilful 
policy, was Mr. Glanvil seeking to use John Howe 
as our other friend was using Will Swan ? The 
thought will obtrude itself, but let us dismiss it. 
The writings of the Bath redlor contain some truly 
liberal sentiments. A few leaders of all parties 
thought well of him; and if we had no other 
evidence in his favour, we should be inclined to 
think that he must, upon the whole, have been a 
good minister, or he would not have been stigma- 
tised as a bad one by Antony Wood. 



* February 16, 1667-8, 




B B 



Chapter XV. 
Coll for tlje 'Bratoc. 

" inquit, 'veritatem dixisti : consummatum est $ 

iiY j/V pa<vimento sua casula decantans : 6 Gloria Patri, et jilio et 
Spiritui SancloS Cum Spiritum SanBum nominasset, spiritum e cor pore 
exhala-uit ultimum, ac sic regna migravif ad celestial 

CUTHEERTI EPISTOLA BE OBITU VENERAEILIS BED^. 

Y work is done. One day, when, for 
four hours, attendants had been waiting 
in the hush of strained expedtancy for 
the last moment of Joseph Alleine's 
life on earth, — when they almost thought that all 
was over, — when the physician, watch in hand, had 
whispered, cf Only a few minutes now," — these 
words broke from his lips like a distant sound, 
cc Weep not for me ; my work is done." 

He was mistaken. He had yet more work to 
do. When just passing through the shadows that 
border the spirit-land, he was summoned to turn 




TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



37 1 



back into the daylight of this world again for 
work. The pleasant sojourn at Bath, and all the 
works done there, came after this — but we have 
now nearly reached the end of the story. 

Faithful unto death, his last work on earth con- 
templated the religious instruction of children. 
With great difficulty, he accomplished a journey of 
five miles to see his friend, Mr. Joseph Barnard, who 
had, like himself, just "had a great deliverance ;" 
but whether from sickness, or prison, or both, has 
not been told us. He proposed that they should 
unite in presenting cc a thank-offering to God," by 
printing, at their own expense, six thousand copies 
of the Assembly's Catechism ; and that they should 
then engage the assistance of their friends to send a 
hundred copies to each minister in Wiltshire and 
Somersetshire who would promise to undertake 
their distribution among the children around them. 
Mr. Barnard consented, the plan was completed, 
a letter was drawn up to be sent to each minister in 
their names conjointly, arrangements were made 
for receiving the report of results, and now the 
work of life was done. 

While at Mr. Barnard's house his strength 
dropped rapidly, and the horse-litter was again sent 
for to take him back to Bath. On the 3rd of 
November, he felt that the hand of death was on 
him, and asked his friends to pray for him, cc be- 
cause his time was very short." Let the close of 

b b 2 



37^ 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



the story be told by his wife : — cc At night he said 
to me, c Well, now, my dear heart, my companion 
in all my tribulations and afflictions, I thank thee 
for all thy pains and labours for me, at home and 
abroad, in prison and liberty, in health and sick- 
ness.' Reckoning up many of the places we had 
been in, in the days of our affliction, and utter- 
ing many most endearing and affectionate expres- 
sions, he concluded with many holy breathings to 
God for me, that He would requite me, and never 
forget me, and fill me with all manner of grace 
and consolations ; and that His face might still 
shine upon me, and that I might be supported and 
carried through all difficulties. 

cc After this he desired me to see for a c Practice 
of Piety ;' and I procuring one for him, he turned 
his chair from me, that I might not see, and read 
the c Meditations about Death' in the latter end 
of that book ; which I discerning, asked of him 
whether he did apprehend his end was near ? To 
which he replied, he knew not, in a few days I 
would see ; and so fell into discourse, to divert me, 
desiring me to read two chapters to him, as I used 
to do every night ; and so he hasted to bed, not 
being able to go to prayer ; and with his own hands 
did very hastily undoe his coat and doublet, which 
he had not done in many months before. In a 
quarter of an hour after, he fell into very strong 
convulsions ; which I being much affrighted at, 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



373 



called for help, and sent for the doctors, who used all 
former and other means, but no success the Lord 
was pleased to give then to any. But they con- 
tinued for two days and nights, not ceasing one hour. 

cc This was most grievous to me, that I saw him 
so like to depart, and that I should hear him speak 
no more to me ; fearing it would harden the wicked 
to see him removed by such a stroke ; for his fits 
were most terrible to behold. And I earnestly 
besought the Lord, that if it were His pleasure, He 
would so far mitigate the heavy stroke I saw was 
coming upon me, by causing him to utter some- 
thing of his heart before He took him from me, 
which He graciously answered me in ; for he that 
had not spoke from Tuesday night, did on Friday 
morning, about three o'clock, call for me to come to 
him, speaking very understandingly, between times, 
all that day. But that night, about nine o'clock, 
he brake out with an audible voice, speaking for 
sixteen hours together, those and such-like words as 
you formerly had account of ; and did cease but a 
very little space, now and then, all the afternoon. 

cc About three in the afternoon he had, as we 
perceived, some conflict with Satan, for he uttered 
these words : — f Away, thou foul fiend, thou enemy 
of all mankind, thou subtile sophister, art thou 
come now to molest me — now I am just going — 
now I am so weak, and death upon me ? Trouble 
me not, for I am none of thine ! I am the Lord's ; 



374 TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 

Christ is mine, and I am His ; His by covenant. 
I have sworn myself to be the Lord's, and His 
I will be. Therefore, be gone !' These last words 
he repeated often, which I took much notice of. 
Thus his covenanting with God was the means he 
used to expel the Devil and all his temptations." 

At six o'clock on Saturday evening the great 
vidlorious spirit passed away. 

The mourners could not forget the charge given 
by their beloved minister while yet with them, — 
<c If I should die fifty miles away, let me be buried 
at Taunton ;" and a grave was, therefore, found 
for him in St. Mary's chancel. 

To-day, as you stand alone in the stone-chamber 
near it, with the ancient register before you, having 
suddenly lighted upon the entry, fresh as if writ- 
ten yesterday — cc Mr. Joseph Alleine, minister, 
November 17, 1668," — it is startling to think that 
perhaps the last time these words were looked at, 
poor widowed Theodosia was standing by. The 
thought is magical. All at once you are living back 
in that old November day, — cc a certain trembling 
consciousness seems to breathe through the air," — 
faces and forms seem to hover and glow out of the 
blank twilight ; and though alone, you are in 
solemn company ; — a vast congregation is in the 
church, and all around it. There ! you see John 
Howe and Richard Fairclcugh, just come from 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



375 



Bath with the sorrowing train. Old George Newton 
is close at your side, " leaning upon the top of his 
staff;" and you catch the very tones of the moment 
while he is saying, Cf Beloved, it is not rebellion for 
me to mourn. In holy writ, you find an old 
prophet burying a prophet, and as he stood over 
his grave he melted and said, Alas, my brother ! " 
Thus you may live in the past, until its long- 
vanished voices and scenes strike you at times with 
the force of present reality. All that your mind 
has now pictured was once real. The words quoted 
were a&ually spoken ; and it was truly amidst such 
demonstrations of public sorrow that the remains 
of the devoted minister were committed to their 
last resting-place. The spot was afterwards marked 
by a brass plate in the pavement thus inscribed : — 

HIC JACET DOMINVS JOSEPHVS ALLEINE 
HOLOCAVSTVM TAVNTONENSIS 
ET DEO ET VOBIS. 

An old poet has said : — 

" It is not growing like a tree 

In bulk, doth make man better be. 

A lily of the day 

Is fairer far in May, 

Although it fall and die that night, 

It was the plant and flower of light j \ 

In small proportions we just beauties see, 

And in small measures life may perfect be."* 



* Ben Jonson. 



376 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



This is true ; but we have more to say of the 
short life that has now been recorded. 

The short life of a flower may be as perfe6l as 
the long life of a tree, and it may equally answer 
its own peculiar ends, but those ends are not equally 
important. The short life of a Christian may be 
filled with a power of usefulness, that shall reach to 
heaven and live for ever. We have here an 
example, at once for our rebuke and for our 
encouragement, to show what divine attainments 
may be made, and what noble service done, in a 
short life. He was not thirty-five years old when 
he died; but his life was so rich, and so full of 
efficacy, that he never seemed to be so much alive, 
even on this earth, as after he was taken from it. 
His work still went on ; he still preached the glad 
tidings, and hundreds of thousands have heard him. 
On many a cottage-wall w 7 as seen, soon after his 
funeral, a broad sheet, on which were printed his 
last words. The title was, cc The Golden Sayings, 
Sentences, and Expressions of Mr. Vavasor Powell ; 
with some Choice Sayings of that godly divine, Mr. 
Joseph Alleine, of Taunton, in Somersetshire."* 
His letters were then collected, and along with a 
simple and affectionate biography, written by his 
widow, were almost immediately translated into 
Welch, German, and other languages, and have 



British Museum. 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



377 



since passed through almost countless editions.* 
In 1671, his Cf Alarm to the Unconverted" first 
saw the light. It appears to be the substance of 
sermons preached on conversion. Of this book 
Dr. Calamy, writing in 1702, remarks, "Multi- 
tudes will have cause for ever to be thankful for it. 
No book in the English tongue (the Bible only 
excepted) can equal it for the number that hath 
been dispersed ; there have been twenty thousand 
sold under the title of the c Call/ or c Alarm/ and 
fifty thousand of the same under the title of the 
c Sure Guide to Heaven/ thirty thousand of which 
were at one impression." f "It is a wonderful 
amount of good " says another writer, Cf which has 
been accomplished by the solemn and pathetic 
appeals contained in the c Alarm to the Uncon- 
verted.' As one example it may be mentioned, 
that towards the close of the last century a minis- 
ter, more eminent for scholarship than fervour, 
repeated the substance of its successive chapters to 
his Highland congregation, as he was engaged in 
translating the work for some Society ; and the 
result was a wide-spread awakening, which long 
prevailed in the district of Nether Lorn." J In 
1674, his "Remains" were published, under the 



* Moreri. Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique. 1740. 

f Calamy s Account of the Ejected Ministers, vol. ii., p. 577. 

J Hamilton's Sacred Classics, vol. ii. ; p. 219. 



378 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



editorial care of his father-in-law ; and; later stilly 
appeared cc The Saint's Pocket Book." A complete 
list of his works will be found in the Appendix. 

The late William Rhodes, whose kindred spirit 
so fitted him to understand this holy confessor, has 
left some remarks on his life and works, which, 
though not intended by him for the public eye, may 
be given here with propriety. A friend having 
alluded to Joseph Alleine in the course of a letter 
to him, he thus replied, cc I borrow the hand of 
another, as I have been obliged to do for so many 
years past, to write the few lines I may be able to 

di&ate You have awakened into fresh love 

and delight my recollections of one whom I have 
admired, and aspired to imitate from my earliest 

days I cannot tell you how much I 

love the memory and character of that most 
excellent man, nor the value I put upon his life and 
Christian letters, which no person of devout sensi- 
bility can read for the first time without finding 
himself transported for a while to the finest climate 
of the spiritual world, and moved with higher aspi- 
rations towards the life and beauty of holiness. The 
lights and powers of the world to come are upon 
him there, as they ruled and delighted the heart of 
the writer. He possessed all the intensity and 
refinement of the Puritan piety, — a piety hitherto 
unequalled in the history of our race, — without any 
tinfture of its undue austerity and seclusion from 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



379 



the innocent graces of life. In religious fidelity 
and tenderness — in holy severity of self-govern- 
ment — in constant solicitudes and toils for the 
salvation of men— in ardour and elevation of 
soul under prolonged sufferings — in frequent 
and lofty converse with eternal things, he was 
scarcely inferior to Paul himself, the first of 
human teachers, the inspired prince of mankind. 
I do not, of course, for a moment, place Mr. 
Alleine on a level, in intellectual endowments, with 
the great religious minds of that great period : 
not with Bunyan, who stands alone in profound 
wisdom and genius, so rich in the illuminations 
that come from above : nor with Baxter, in his 
wonderful amplitude of capacity and labour : nor 
with Howe, in his serene majesty of spirit and 
magnificence of thought. These were not his dis- 
tinctions ; but in heavenliness of temper and action 
he was equal to the best, if he did not surpass them 
all. He united in perfection what is so seldom 
attained — the delight and grandeur of contem- 
plative devotion, with untired activity in performing 
the common duties of time." 

Some information will be welcome respecting the 
final history of Alleine's companions. And, first, 
it will be asked, u What became of his widow, the 
companion of all his tribulations ?" She was left 
with no children. No authentic account can be 
found of her last years, beyond the simple fact that 



3 8o 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



she died before the horrors of the Monmouth rising 
began. We should like to know more of her, but 
from the little that we already know, we are bound 
to give her a place in the praise of all the churches 
along with such women as Lucy Hutchinson, Lady 
Falkland, and Mrs. Margaret Baxter. Next it will 
be asked, cc What became of his companions in the 
ministry, and the people of their united charge ?" 
Mr. Newton's last days were full of trouble. As 
we have seen, he was not a man of courage, but 
courage came as faith grew stronger, and he returned 
from his weary concealments about London to serve 
his former flock, just when the decline of Alleine's 
power made that return doubly welcome. In 1672, 
Paul's Independent Meeting was built for him, and 
a license was obtained for it, in accordance with a 
declaration in favour of the Nonconformists, by 
Lord Clifford. His peaceful ministry was not 
permitted to last long. Antony Wood asserts that 
Cf he was seized and imprisoned for several years, 
and justly suffered as a mover of sedition." Such 
was the ecclesiastical estimate of his loving labours, 
and such was its reward. The date of his impri- 
sonment is now uncertain ; we only know that 
after his release, though bowed with infirmities, he 
set forth to face the storm once more, and con- 
tinued preaching just as ever ; the interruption he 
suffered from the legalized fury of bad men, and 
from the mistakes of the good, only moving him 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



381 



to say, cc Let us earnestly beseech the good Lord 
to leave His children now no longer out at school, 
but speedily to fetch them home, and teach them 
all Himself, and then we shall have great peace." 
In 1 68 1, when bordering on his eightieth year, per- 
secution still raging round him, the good father fell 
asleep. Again, even scorners were silenced into 
reverence, and again they allowed the ground within 
the chancel rails to be opened for a Nonconformist's 
grave. 

"See now his peaceful breast, 
Rocked by the hand of death, takes quiet rest j 
Disturb him not, but let him sweetly take 
A full repose, he hath been long awake. 

He was taken from the evil to come. Only two 
years after his death a heavy trial befel his people. 
Their chapel, and that occupied by the Baptists, 
were both sacked by order of the mayor, who, 
writing to Sir Leoline Jenkins, says : cc We burnt 
ten cart-loads of pulpit, doors, gates, and seats, in 
the market-place. We staid till three in the morn- 
ing before all were burnt. We were very merry. 
The bells rang all night! The church is now full; 
thank God for it ! The fanatics dare not open their 
mouths." f In about a month, the magnate's note 
of thanksgiving was changed for one more pensive, 



* Quarles. 

f August 11, 1683. State Paper Office, Sir L. Jenkins, xiii. 



382 



10LL FOR THE BRAVE. 



for by that time it was reported that the people met 
under the roof of private houses, in seven or eight 
places simultaneously.* Long may their successors 
meet, and continue to enjoy their rich inheritance 
of blessing ! 

u What became of Mr. Norman's congrega- 
tion ?" Their meeting-house suffered at the same 
time a similar fate. Lord Stowel gives the account 
in the following words : — cc We found the House of 
Worship which was sooner pluckt down than built 
and so ought to have bin all the phanatick houses 
in Bridgewater if they had the least incouragement 
for they were all able workmen the materialls of 
the conventicles were carried upon the cornhill 
which made a bonfire fourteen feet high atopp of 
which was placed the pulpit and the cushing. Wee 
only wanted the levit to have given us a farewell 
sermon there were severall gentlemen of the 

country that came into us We stood 

round the bonfire, and healths were not wanting. 
The mittig hows was made rown like a cockpit 
and ould hould sum 400 parsons." f 

" What became of the Dissenters generally ?" 
The cases just related may be supposed to be rare 
and exceptional, but in reality they are only 
average specimens of what took place throughout 

* September 2nd and 22nd. 

f State Papers. The " Levit 11 alluded to was Mr. John Moore, 
A.M., of Brazenose College. 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



333 



the nation. It was a common thing to deal thus 
with the chapels of the Nonconformists. The 
worshippers often anticipated the visits of such 
destroyers, and to escape some of the terrors of 
their mirth, that cc grew so fast and furious," they 
quietly destroyed their chapel furniture with their 
own hands. 

The mobs who once smashed cathedral windows 
were just as ready to burn conventicle benches. 
They were not composed of Puritans in the one 
case, nor of decent ceremonialists in the other ; but 
of the volatile rascality that will always rejoice in 
the excitement of a political party, and shout with 
the winning side. Only be it remembered, that in 
the one case the outrage was against the order of 
Government ; in the other, it was in obedience to 
it. In the one case, most of the accounts of sacri- 
legious violence are detedted exaggerations ; in the 
other, they are reports sent to the Secretary of 
State, and placed among the archives of the nation. 

Zeal for the A6t of Uniformity did not idly 
waste itself in attacks on mere timber and stone. 
Persons, not things, were its objedls. Within the 
compass of three years, the Dissenters of England 
suffered, in penalties inflidted for the worship of 
God, to the amount of two millions sterling.* 
From the Restoration to the Revolution, these losses 



Defoe's Preface to Delaune's Plea. 



384 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



from the same causes rose to twelve or fourteen 
millions.* In the same space of time, sixty thou- 
sand persons are said to have suffered on a religious 
account. The lists of these sufferers were collected 
with great care and cost by Mr. Jeremy White, 
who told Lord Dorset that when King James 
offered him a thousand guineas for the manuscript, 
he refused to surrender it, knowing that it was only 
wanted in order to strengthen the interests of 
Popery. j~ 

These sufferings included fines, bonds, transpor- 
tation, voluntary exile to Holland or America, and 
death in prison. White gives the number of such 
deaths as 5,000 ; William Penn states the same 
number. Picart reports 8,000; J Daniel Defoe 
says, near 8,000. § It is impossible for us to 
know with certainty the statistics of that black 
record, until the books are opened at the judgment 
day. One who lived through those times remarks, 
<c I have read concerning Zoroaster's book, entitled, 
c The Similitude/ that it required no less than 
1,260 ox-hides for the covering of it. I know not 
how far the sufferings of the Nonconformists under 

* Neale's History ; Toulmirfs Edit., vol. Hi., p. 273. 

f See Account of Jeremy White, M.A., Fellow of Trin. Coll., 
Cambridge $ Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial ; also Neale, 
vol. iii., p. 273 

X Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieuses j par B. Picart, torn, x., 
p. 71. 

§ Preface to Delaune's Plea, 171 2, p. 2. 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



385 



the Caroline persecution would go to fill a book of 
such enormous dimensions, — this I know, it was a 
persecution too terrible to admit of a similitude, 
and there is a worthy writer who does not scruple 
to say, that if the sufferings of good men in this 
persecution were distinctly written, our largest books 
of martyrs would be but an Enchiridion in com- 
parison with such a history."* 

It has often been argued that the shameless immo- 
rality that suddenly flooded the nation at the return 
of the exiled King, gave proof that the religion of 
Puritanism, which appeared to prevail just before, 
was only a hollow and pretensive show ; the maxim 
being true of nations as of individuals, that none 
can be supremely wicked on a sudden. This is 
unfair to the Puritans. The fads of the case only 
prove — what needs no proof — that the large majority 
of men, even then, were worldly ; that many, of 
course, were willing to profess from worldly motives 
State religion — the religion that stood connected 
with highest rank and honour, whatever that reli- 
gion might be ; and that many more were desperate 
haters of godliness, eager to throw off the restraints 
which it had imposed upon them. It must still be 
contended that Christians have seldom been so 
numerous in proportion to other men as in those 
days, and that piety has seldom had a higher tone. 



* Eleutheria. London, 1698, p. 83. 



386 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



Evidence for this is seen in the vast number of 
sufferers for Nonconformity, and in the great fight 
of afflictions which they so long endured. Would 
the Son of man find so much cc faith on the earth " 
now ? It may well be doubted. 

Let all honour be given to this noble army of 
martyrs. Let their living representatives strive 
without ceasing to ad a part worthy of such an 
ancestry. Let them be upon their guard lest pros- 
perity foster effeminacy, and make them cc feebler 
sons of feebler days." Two things in the condud 
of our fathers, and especially of their ministers, 
should be admired and imitated ; first, their deter- 
mination to maintain, at all costs, that in all matters 
of religion the sole standard of authority is the 
word of God, as interpreted by the Spirit of God 
— the Spirit promised cc to every one that asketh ;" 
next, their determination to maintain a clear, free, 
and living conscience. In their view, there were 
many things in the English Episcopacy, considered 
as a church, but not as an establishment, which 
were not in accordance with their one standard ; 
they therefore refused to take orders. They might 
have accepted the articles as cc articles of peace." 
They might, while thinking some particulars in 
them contrary to the word of God, have pledged 
themselves to an acknowledgment of them all as 
cc agreeable to the word of God," secretly meaning, 
by that phrase, Cf agreeable in so far as they are 



'TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



38? 



agreeable." When the plain words of creeds, forms, 
and offices conveyed teachings which seemed to 
them at variance with the teachings of inspiration, 
they might, with a little ingenuity, very easy to such 
practised casuists, have put upon them a private 
and reserved construction. They might have per- 
suaded themselves that many things which they 
thought unscriptural in the Prayer-book were only 
little things ; that therefore they could safely avow 
their unfeigned assent and consent to them, regard- 
ing untruthfulness or dishonesty in little things to 
be only a little sin, especially when demanded as 
part of a formal introduction to a ministry of holi- 
ness and truth. They might have thought the act 
of subscription an insignificant price to pay for all 
the splendid advantages of clerical conformity. 
They might have refused to think at all. But 
such was not their course. They thought that with 
their faith differing in many important respects from 
the Anglican formulas, the aft of subscribing to 
those formulas would either imply that the moral 
sense within them was dead, or would inflict a 
wound upon it of which it soon would die. They 
thought that any attempt to satisfy conscience, by 
giving their own fC private interpretation " to that 
which they subscribed, any attempt to pervert, 
resist, or explain away the meaning of plain words 
in this particular instance, might injuriously affect 
their power of using or understanding plain words 

c c 2 



3 88 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



in other instances. They thought that expediency 
so subtle and evasive might not only destroy their 
own self-respecft, but bring suspicion on their teach- 
ing and discredit on their cause. They therefore 
declared themselves to be Nonconformists, their 
people joined them, and all spent the rest of their 
days in a driving tempest of persecution. 

We hold these men in reverence for adting out 
their principles so far as they had opportunity of 
tracing them, but there was one legitimate conclu- 
sion which they had not reached. It had thus been 
expressed by Sir Harry Vane, — cc The province of 
the magistrate is the world and man's body ; not 
conscience and the things of eternity." Only a few 
thought with him. It would be impiety for us to 
reproach them because they only saw this truth as 
cc in a glass darkly." It is our vocation to utter it ; 
but it was not theirs, for the time had not come. 
They were heroes, true, masculine, and grand ; 
they had their own work to do, and they did it 
well ; their own battle to fight, and they fought it 
nobly ; their own special truth to utter, and they 
told it with power from heaven ; but the do&rine 
of religious liberty they had yet to learn through 
trials, and we are inheriting the knowledge that 
came out of their experience. Gradually they 
learned to look beyond the hand that smote them, 
to the hidden life that set it in motion and nerved it 
with strength. This they found to be the spirit 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



3*9 



which claims infallibility, and the right to rule over 
conscience — a spirit which is not peculiar to any 
single sedt, but has been the common sin of all 
when in circumstances to exercise it. Since alliance 
with the State is certain to create those circum- 
stances, modern Dissenters have added to the 
theoretic basis of dissent adopted by their ances- 
tors, the principle that every church should, in 
matters of religion, renounce State patronage and 
be free from State control. This they regard as 
only a further development of Puritan scripturism. 
Holding this tenet, their opinion differs from that 
of the majority of men, but, in deciding any reli- 
gious question, they attach little value to majorities. 
It was a majority that crucified Christ. Christian 
truth is not with the multitude. The votes for 
such truth are not to be numbered but weighed, 
and weighed only in the balances of Scripture. 
Holding this tenet does not imply the assumption 
to themselves of any superior intelligence or con- 
scientiousness over those from whom they differ. 
It does not imply hostility to the church of 
England, or injustice to the reputation of the great 
and holy men who have adorned and still adorn it ; 
it does not imply that they love their fellow- 
Christians the less because they may belong to that 
communion. It rather implies that, to them, 
differences of practice as to church order can inter- 
pose no bar to Christian love, or perfedt equality. 



39° 



TOLL FOR THE BRAVE. 



They would give to others what they claim for 
themselves — equal social rights, and warmest Chris- 
tian affedlion, without first asking for uniformity. 
In their belief, all healthy life protests against the 
demand for uniformity. "Attempt to construd 
some outward framework of uniformity for nature, 
and the oaks and elms, the informal lilies of the 
field and the fowls of the air, will breathe forth their 
protest in beauty, and sound it in song." The life 
of grace, like the life of nature, though million- 
formed, is one,-— and that power from without 
which most succeeds in binding it into sameness of 
aspedt, will, in the end, only make it dwindle and 
pine. We would rather seek for ourselves and for 
all Christians greater vitality of faith in Christ, the 
mediating principle by which alone man can be led 
into the light of God, the combining fadt, in virtue 
of which alone all believers have a unity which 
underlies all visible variety, and makes variety 
beautiful. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. — p. 79. 

Letter from the Church at Taunton, in America, under the 
pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Emery, to the Rev. 
Henry Addiscott, and the First Independent Church 
at Taunton, in England. 

Taunton, Mass., U.S., Feb., 1854. 

Rev. and Beloved, — We are moved to address you, 
by reason of our common origin, and our common Chris- 
tian faith. Tour fathers were our fathers ; and the Deans, 
the Reeds, the Blakes, the Attwoods, and the Halls, 
from whom some of you sprung, have descendants in our 
church and town, who would gladly become better 
acquainted than they now are with those who claim a 
common descent in the mother-country, Our ancestors 
were led to remove hither, as you are well aware, for the 
sake of planting a church in this western world. 

The church which the first settlers of Taunton formed 
in 1637 still lives, and adheres to the faith of the fathers 



APPENDIX. 



of New England — the faith which has so long distin- 
guished all true saints. There are three colonies from the 
original church, which are Calvinistic Congregational 
churches ; and of these the church which we represent 
is one — adopting the same confession of faith and cove- 
nant in substance, desiring to perpetuate the great truths 
gathered out of the Word of God, and embodied in the 
Westminster Shorter Catechism. There are other 
churches in town, which are generally regarded as evan- 
gelical, a Calvinist Baptist, a Protestant Episcopal, two 
Protestant Methodist, and a Presbyterian. There are 
also several which are not so regarded, but which we will 
not particularly name. The prevailing sentiment of the 
town, which contains a population of some 12,000, is 
what would be termed, with us, orthodox. We have a 
desire to know how it is with you. Rev. Mr. Bingham, 
the pastor of the Unitarian Society in Taunton, spent a 
Sabbath with you some months since, and preached, as 
we are informed, in one or more of your churches. From 
his published letter, we learn that about half of your 
people are Dissenters. We should like to know what are 
the doctrinal views of these Dissenting churches, and so 
much of your ecclesiastical history as you may be disposed 
to give us. Our own history is put in a permanent form, 
and is herewith transmitted to you. If you have docu- 
ments of any kind, printed or otherwise, which would 
make us better acquainted with you, we should prize 
them highly. There is a history of your town by Toul- 
min, of which we have heard, but not seen. Our church 
has recently erefted a new place of worship, in a more 
central part of the town, and dropping the original name, 
which indicated the Street in which they worshipped 
(Spring Street), have adopted the name of Winslow^ in 



APPENDIX. 



393 



memory of Edward Winslow, one of the pilgrims, the 
third governor of Plymouth colony, and the first English- 
man who ever touched Taunton soil. History warrants 
us in believing he was an eminently good man, and that 
bis was a name worthy to be thus perpetuated in the 
place. 

Wishing you grace, mercy, and peace, we remain, 
yours, in the fellowship of the Gospel, and on behalf of 
the Winslow church, 

S. Hopkins Emery, Pastor. 

Edgar H. Reed, 
C. Wood, 

William T. Blake, f 
P. W. Dean, J 




No. II.— p. 378. 



A List of Mr. Alleine's Works. 



Title. 



1. Prayers for the Use of the People 

2. Useful Questions, whereby a Christian may 

examine himself. Folio sheet 



Date of original 
publication. 
\ 



Some- 
time be- 



3. Directions for Covenanting with God. / tween 



Folio sheet 

Rules for the more Profitable Management 
of Family Worship. Folio sheet ) 



i655and 
1661. 



394 



APPENDIX. 



Date of original 
publication. 



5. Theologia Philosophica : licensed in 1661 

6. Call to Archippus. 4to 1664 

7. Explanation of the Assembly's Shorter Cate- 

chism, with a Letter to his Flock, and 

Rules for daily Self-examination. i2mo... 1664 

8. Synopsisofthe Covenant ofGrace. Foliosheet. 1664 

9. A Soliloquy : representing the Believer's 

Triumph in God's Covenant, and the 
various Conflicts and glorious Conquests 
of Faith over Unbelief. First published 
in Part III. of the V indicia Pietatis 1665 

10. Directions to the Ministers of Somersetshire 

and Wiltshire for the Instructing of 
Families, &c 1668 

11. Letters full of Spiritual Instructions, tending 

to the promoting of the power of Godli- 
ness. Forty Letters ; afterwards increased 
to Forty- five 1671 

12. An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners: 8vo. 1671 



One edition of this appeared under the 
title, "The true way to Happiness," 1675: 
another under the title, " A Sure Guide 
to Heaven," 1691. 

Included in the first edition of the 
" Alarm," were the three following 



tracts, which had before been published 
separately, without date : — 

13. Counsel for Personal and Family Godliness. 167 1 

14. Divers Practical Cases of Conscience, judi- 

ciously solved 1 67 1 

15. Counsels and Cordials for the Converted ... 1671 



APPENDIX. 



395 



Title. 



Date of original 
publication. 



1 6. The Remains of that excellent Minister of 

Jesus Christ, Mr. Joseph Alleine, being 
a Collection of Sundry Directions, Ser- 
mons, Sacrament Speeches, and Letters, 
not heretofore published 

17. A Treatise called The Voice of the Herald 

before the Great King. The Voice of 
God speaking from Mount Gerizim. 
The Voice of the Redeemed after the 
Proclamation 

18. A Treasure of Gospel Promises, left j 1 



19. Promises for the Saints' Support in Times 1 

of Trouble and Persecution J 

Treatise 17, 18^ and 19, along with 
the "Soliloquy" before named, were 
afterwards published under the title of 



1672 



1684 



in Legacy by Jesus Christ 




the " Saint's Pocket Book. 



INDEX. 



Addison (Lancelot) rides to Oxford University, 41. 
Alan, lord of Buckenhall, jj. 
Alleine (Mr. Edward), death of, 35. 

Alleine (Joseph), birth of, 23 — his father's house, 24 — 
scenes of his childhood, 25, 27, 30 — conversion, 34 
— goes to school at Poulshot, 36 — is placed at Lin- 
coln College, Oxford, 41 — witnesses the ceremony 
of creating Oliver Cromwell do£tor of laws, 41 — 
hears the letter read announcing Cromwell's accept- 
ance of the chancellorship, 43 — is chosen scholar of 
Corpus Christi, 51 — his studies, 56, 57 — takes B. A. 
degree, 58 — is appointed tutor, 59 — preaches to the 
prisoners, 61 — visits Taunton, 65 — introduction to 
Mr. Newton, 83 — his first series of sermons, 83 — - 
his invitation to become assistant minister, 86 — 
appears before the Triers, 96 — is ordained, 97— is 
married, 99 — the " inconveniences" of his married 
life, 100 — his reputation as a preacher, 135 — his 
do£trines, 142 — labours as a catechist, 144 — helps 
other congregations, 148 — takes part in the Somer- 
setshire Association, 149 — personal aspect, 150 — 
generosity, 151, 345 — writings, 153, 274 — list of 
his writings, 393 — his scientific experiments, 



INDEX. 



397 



154 — devotional habits, 155 — his last course of 
sermons in the church, 199 — his conduct on his 
ejection, 205 — intends to go to China, 207 — is 
seized by an officer, 210 — -committed to the Bride- 
well chamber, 214, 282 — sufferings, 215 — indicted 
at the sessions, no bill is found, but he is still kept 
in prison, 222, 285 — account of trial before Judge 
Foster, 226 — preaches in the gaol, 249 — is threatened 
with transportation, 277 — his remark upon these 
threatenings, 280 — letters to his people, 281 to 294 — 
is set free, 295 — renewed labours, 297 — illness, 297 
— letter to a clergyman with two parsonages, 303 — to 
a Dissenting minister in gaol, 303 — first visit to the 
mineral waters, 307 — plans for mission-work in 
Wales, 308 — his service of thanksgiving on the 
passing of the Five-Mile Act, 316 — preaches a 
Wellington, 321 — returns, and lodges at Fullands, 
323 — takes part in an ordination service, 324 — festi- 
val at Fullands, 327 — taken to prison again, 331 — 
parting address to the prisoners, 332 — collects money 
to relieve the London citizens after the fire, 345 — 
second visit to the mineral waters, 346 — companions 
there, 348 to 351 — his prayer for his flock, 
352 — visits Dorchester, 355 — his charge to Taunton 
visitors, 356 — goes to Bath, 361 — his labours there, 
362 to 366 — alarms the rector, 367 — dies, 374 — 
scene at his funeral, 374 — his writings, 153, 274, 
377, 393 — estimate of his character, 378. 

Alleine (Mistress Theodosia), Joseph's letter to her on 
his offers of high preferment, 62 — on the Taunton 
invitation, 86 — Wood's account of her, 100 — she 
sets up a school, 10 1 — extracts from her account of 
Mr. Alleine, 189, 205, 209 to 214, 222, 280, 297, 
362, 366 — her death, 380. 

Alleine (Mr. Tobie), his marriage, 2 — his children, 2 — 
takes tolls of the market, 3 — his neighbours, 4 — his 
services to the town, 4 — his Puritanism, 5 — helps to 
obtain lecturers, 14 — talks with Justice Kent, 15 — 



39^ 



INDEX. 



is made one of the Wiltshire deputies for the Triers, 
19 — his message from Ilchester Gaol, 20 — his 
poverty, 151 — his sudden death, 20, 352. 

Alleine (Mr. Tobie, the younger), detects, corrects, and 
rejects Diotrephes, 120. 

Alleine (Mistress Marie) is delivered over unto Satan, 
120. 

Alleine (Richard), 86, 274. 
Allibond on Oxford University, 42. 

Anderdon (John, the Quaker), suffers with Alleine, 219. 
Andover^ midnight worship at, 180. 
Ash (Simeon), 31. 
Assizes (the Black), 62. 

Associations^ western Baptist churches, 127 — western 

ministers, 148. 
Atkins (Robert), his sufferings, 325. 
Aubrey (John), 3, 307. 
Ball (William) at Taunton, 324. 
Bampfield (Sir Coplestone) at Corpus Christi, 59. 
Bampfield (Mr. Thomas), some account of his life, 225 

— his legal services for Alleine, 226 — his opinion 

touching riots, 239. 
Bampfield (Mr. Francis), his death in Newgate, 225. 
Baptists at Devizes, 20, 28 — at Taunton, 144, 194, 209 

— Baptist clergymen, 166 — Baptists persecuted in 

New Taunton, 74 — the opinions of Baptist Puritans 

on music, 127 — on dress, 128 — Baptists charged 

with setting fire to London, 343. 
Barnard (Joseph), 366, 371. 
Barnes (Barnaby), his lines on " Content," 33. 
Bartholomew Day^ 1662 ; Act of Uniformity then passed, 

176 -effects at Taunton, 200, 203. 
Bartlett (Widow), 355. 

Barton (Major), his sermon in St. John's Church, 35. 
Barton (William), his "Psalms," 127. 
Bassett (Col. Francis), a Taunton Baptist, 194. 
Bath j its appearance in 1662, 361 — the King's visit to 
it, 270. 



INDEX. 



399 



Baxter (Richard), his opinion of the old clergy, 13 — 
of the sequestered clergy, 184 — of Alleine's preach- 
ing, 138 — of his life, iv. — of Thomas Bamp- 
field, 225 — of Puritan preaching and its effects, 133 
— of foreign missions, 207 — of heresies, 119 — his 
theology, 142 — his verses on Bartholomew Day, 
193, — his character, by Tilenus, 306. 

Baynton (Sir Edward), 20. 

Beaumont (Dr.) on heresies, 119. 

Bennett (Edward), a Trier, 96. 

Bentley (R.), his lines on " Study," 57. 

Blake (Humphrey), his sufferings for Nonconformity, 
— goes to Carolina with his family, 359. 

Blake (General Robert) at the siege of Taunton, 56 — 
his connexion with Alleine, 102 — company at 
his country-house, 131 — treatment of his remains, 

Boyle (Hon. Robert) takes shelter at Oxford, 50. 
Bridgewater, 101, 128, 209, 219 — meeting-house pulled 

down by churchmen, 382. 
Bruen (John), of Bruen Stapelford, Esquire, breaks church 

windows, 115. 
Buckingham (Duke of) slanders the Baptists, 344. 
Bunyan, quotations from, 28, 169, 248, 331. 
Burnet (Bp.) on the Prayer-book, 172. 
Butler (Samuel), his lines on university addresses, 59 — 

on the Triers, 95 — lampoons Newton, 205. 
Campbell (Lord), his account of Foster, 233. 
Caps and Hoods, Puritan objections to them, 42, 47, 111. 
Catechisms in America, 75 — Alleine's work as a cate- 

chist, 144 to 147, 274. 
Cavaliers , 18, 113, 129. 
Ceremonies^ 8, 10, 17, 112. 
Chantyre (Richard), 181. 

Charles IL Joy at his restoration, 160 — his prayer, 163 — his 
promise to the Nonconformists, 175 — his vindictive 
spirit to the people of Taunton, 198 — his visit to 
Bath, 270. 



400 INDEX. 



Churches and places of worship, spoliation of, by mobs, 

30 — by Puritans, 115 — by Royalists, 381, 
Clarenceux king-at-arms, 5. 

Clarendon (Lord), his remarks on Oxford Puritans, 51 — 

his letter on the Nonconformists, 164. 
Clergy holding livings in the time of Cromwell, 191. 
Clock (Alleine's), 207. 

Colonies, account of the convicts in the, 278, 279 — Non- 
conformists sentenced to serve there, 298. 

Comprehension, Presbyterians desire it, 163 — church of 
England protests against it, 1 74. 

Conventicle A£t, 298. 

Corporation A£t, 169, 198. 

Corpus Christie under the Puritans, 53 — Hooker's opinion 

of it, 56— Jessey's opinion, 54. 
Coven (Stephen), 249. 
Coward (Dr.), 59. 
Creed (Dr.), his sermon, 167. 
Cromwell (Oliver), 27, 41, 43, 45, 161. 
Davies (Sir John), 343. 

Devizes, greetings in the market-place, 3 — its old castle, 
24 — siege of, 25 — demolition of walls, 28 — scene in 
the church, 29 — Alleine's visits to, 307, 346. 

Diotrephes, 121. 

Dod (Robert), 58. 

Dorchester, Alleine's visit to, 355. 

Dress, Puritan notions about it, 128, 129. 

Edwards, 32, 118, 119. 

Ely (Bp. of) on "a comprehensive church," 175, 
Fairclough (Mr. Rich.), Alleine's friend at Bath, 363 to 365. 
Family worship, 129. 

Farewell (Dame), a friend to Alleine, 103. 

" Fathers in God," meaning of the phrase, 349. 

Ffiower (Benjamin), his connexion with Alleine, 349 — 

last service, 350. 
Ffreme (Dame), 20. 

Fifth monarchy men, not Baptists, 196. 
Five groans, 188. 



INDEX. 



Five-mile Act, 322. 

Flavel (John), his lines on the turtle-dove, 65 — his 

midnight preaching at Hudscot Hall, 181. 
Ford (Mr.), 347, 351. 

Foster (Sir Robert), 196 — account of, 223 — trial of 

Alleine, 229 — of Norman, 244 — death, 245. 
Fox (George), 17 — his opinions, 215. 
Frayling (John), of Devizes, 351. 
Fullands, 316, 324. 
Fuller (Thomas), 33, 184. 
Gangrana, quotation from, 32. 
Gentleman, A.B. taketh oath that he is not one, 5. 
Glanvil (Mr. Joseph, re£tor of Bath), sees Alleine in the 

church, and is nervous, 367 — why Mr. Howe will 

not preach for him, 368. 
Gloom, alleged, of the Puritans, 124, 316. 
Goodwin (John) on the Triers, 95. 
Goodwin (Dr. Thomas), 47. 
Gough (William), Baptist minister, 350. 
Hall (Bp.), quotation from, 85. 
Hall (John), his ditty, 223. 
Hats worn in churches, 113, 114, 204. 
Henry (Matthew), his opinion on Alleine's letters, 282/ 
Henry (Philip), his sayings, 133, 171 — measures the road, 

322. 

Herbert (George), n, 281. 
Holmes (Obadiah) whipped, 74. 
Hood (Dr. Paul), 41. 

Hook (Dr.), his opinion of Alleine, 93 — his apology for 

the AcT: of Uniformity, 182. 
Horsman (Dr.), 59. 
Howe (Mr. John) at Bath, 363, 364. 
Hungerford (Sir Edward), a Trier, 20. 
Ilchester Gaol, accounts of, 214, 219, 221, 249, 273, 330. 
Ince (Peter), anecdote of, 179. 

Jessey (Henry) at Corpus Christi, 54 — at Taunton, 96 — 
involved with Taunton people in charge of plotting, 
196. 

D D 



INDEX. 



"Jewell (Bp.), state of his diocese, 9 — his opinion on 

" idolls " in churches, 116. 
John's (St.) Church, 15, 22. 
Ken (Bp.), lines by him, 135. 
Kent (Master), 15. 

Kennett (Bp.) ridicules Christian missions to the heathen, 
208. 

Kiffin in trouble, 195. 

Ladies (Royalist), their scurrilous talk, 211. 
Latimer (Bp.), his saying, no. 
Leclurers^ 14. 

Letters of Alleine, 62, 86 — from prison, chapter xii. — 

from Devizes, 347, 351. 
Levellers^ 32, 41. 

Lilly (Will.), his prophecy about Taunton, 67 — his notice 

of Seend spring, 307. 
Lincoln College^ 41. 
Lloyd (Sir Charles), 28. 

London^ the plague in, 309 — the fire, and collections for 
the sufferers at Taunton, 343. 

Loss (Dr.), a reverend physician, 355. 

Mallack (John, gent.), Alleine's friend, 324. 

Mile, how long is it ? 322. 

Miller (Hugh), his definition of " schools," 23. 

Ministers, their character before the reign of Puritanism, 
12, 13 — character of the sequestered ministers, 183, 
184 — their restoration, 165 — number of ejected 
ministers, 177 — Dr. Hook's account of them, 182 
— examination of his statements, 182 to 187 — 
character of the ministers who succeeded the ejected 
Nonconformists, 188. 

Missions — the Puritans originate home missions, 1 5 — 
foreign missions, 207 — missions to Wales, 308. 

Musarum Oxoniensium, EAAIO^OPIA, 60. 

Names — the Puritans falsely charged with assuming 
absurd names, 121. 

Newton (Mr. George), minister of Taunton, his history, 
69, 81 — his character, 82 — his kindness to Alleine, 



INDEX. 



99 — his letter on Lady Farewell, 103 — his talk on 
Fragosa, &c, 132 — farewell sermon, 199 — insulted 
by the author of Hudibras, 205 — takes the Oxford 
oath, 313 — his last days and death, 380, 381. 

Nonconformists — their principles, 190 — how they were 
learned, 388 — summary of their sufferings in the 
time of the Stuarts 5 383 to 385. 

Norman (John), account of, 101 — in prison, 214 — trial, 
243 — speech to Lady Warre, 245 — the sermon he 
preached from the gaol window, 255 — threatened with 
transportation, 277 — last sufferings and death, 359. 

Northie (Sir Edward), 2. 

Norton (Roger), the honest printer, 275. 

Oblivion, AcT: of, 167. 

Organs, Puritan opinions about them, 47, 113. 
Owen (Dr. John), °cccunt of him, 45 to 49. 
Oxford, siege of, 40. 

Oxford University, debauchery of the students before the 
Puritan reforms, 46 — men and manners there, 54 to 56. 
Paris (Matthew), 24. 
Parker (Archbishop), 113. 
Parsons (Henry) in Ilchester Gaol, 250. 
Peachell (Dr.), 59. 

Pepys, his meditation on periwigs, 312 — his pity for the 

prisoners, 298 — how he treats Will Swan, 369. 
Petty (Dr.) at Oxford, 50. 

Phillips (Mr. Humphrey) in Ilchester Gaol, 249. 
Plots, Puritans charged with contriving them, 175, 195. 
Poetry amongst the Puritans, 123, 125, 127. 
Polupiety, 118. 

Poole (Mistress) leads a band of emigrants to New 

Taunton, 71. 
Pope (the), his bull, 18. 
Popery, the Puritans fear its return, 8, 9. 
Popish badges, 117. 

Powell (Mr.), Alleine's fellow-prisoner, 249. 
Powell (Vavasor), his labours in Wales, 308 — his name 
associated with that of Alleine, 376. 



4°4 



INDEX. 



Pragmaticus, his pensive remark, 41. 

Prayer^ Newton's last, in the church, 202 — Alleine's, for 
Taunton, 353. 

Prayers^ Puritan opinions as to forms, ill. 

Prayer-book altered, 173. 

Priests , who are they ? 1 1 1. 

Prisons, their ancient state, 61. 

Prophecies, 246. 

Psalmody, 113. 

" Pulpit (a), to let," 311. 

Pupils (Mr. Alleine's) at Oxford, 59. 

Puritans^ their distinctive principle, 6 — Puritan lay- 
men, 7 — the errors which the Puritans sought to 
overthrow, 9, 10, 11, 17 — calumnies against them, 
12, 30, 50 — their <c words and ways," chapter vi. — 
their sufferings, 180 — the religion of the Puritans 
defended from the charge of being formal, 385. 

Quakers^ their treatment at Oxford, 48, 55, 56 — at 
Ilchester, 219 — at New Taunton, 74 — their treat- 
ment of Alleine, 215, 220,247 — their principles, 215, 
218 — their numbers, 218 — their address to King 
Charles, 273 — their persecution, 299. 

Recreations^ Puritan laws respe&ing them, 124. 

Rhodes (Rev. W.), his estimate of Alleine, 378. 

Roads in old Somersetshire, 99. 

Rosewell (Dr.), 59. 

Rossiter^ Elder, 281. 

Sacheverell (Timothy) defies the troopers, 348. 
Saints^ worship of, in Wiltshire, 9. 
Saints 9 days, ill. 

Sampson (Dr.), his note-book, 364, 366. 
<( Saturn in Gemini" 67. 
Savoy conference, 171. 

Sefts^ testimonies as to their number and variety in the 

commonwealth, 119. 
Selden (John) on the old clergy, 13. 

Sermon by one of Cromwell's soldiers, 31 — Newton's 
missionary sermon, 176 — his farewell sermon, 200 — 



INDEX. 



405 



Norman's sermon in gaol, 255 — Alleine's thanks- 
giving sermon, 316 — second thanksgiving sermon, 
— sermon to his fellow-prisoners, 332. 

Sheets (folio) pasted on the walls by Puritans, 131. 

Sheldon — his part in the Act of Uniformity, 171, 175 — 
his character, 172 — helps to forge the Five-Mile 
Aft, 313. 

Shepherd (Master) frightened out of the pulpit, 30. 
Sherfield (Mr.) breaks the church window, 9. 
Shovel^ first American, 73. 

Skinner (Harrison) shoots at the gaol window, 253, 
Soldiers, their disturbances in churches, 30 to 33. 
South (Dr. RobertJ, 63. 

Spinage (Mr. William), Joseph Alleine's schoolmaster, 
36 5 38. 

Staunton (Dr. Ed.), 51, 52, 53. 

Stephen (Nathaniel), his story about a priest, 16. 

Stephens (Dr. Philip), 16. 

Stephens (Sir James), his opinions, 74, 208. 

Stow el (Lord) pulls down meeting-houses, 382. 

Stuckley (Lewis), 120, 133. 

Taunton — its ancient importance, 65 — the scenery around 
it, 67 — account of its siege, 66, 80 — emigration from 
it to form a colony in America, 70 — collections made 
for the colonists, 75 — Baptist church there, 127, 
144 — joy of the people at the Restoration, 160 — 
charge against them of plotting against the King, 194 
— their sufferings from the Royalists, 198 — informers 
there, 247 — sufferings through the Conventicle Act, 
299,331 — their chapel furniture burnt in the market- 
place, 381. 

Taunton (New) founded, 73 — its prosperity, 73, 80 — 
interest of the colonists in the old country, 75 — 
letter from them to the ancestral church, 79, 391. 

Taylor (Bishop), 36. 

Tenison (Archbishop), 172. 

Texts inscribed in Puritan houses, 123. 

Thomas (William), one of the Triers, 96. 



406 



INDEX. 



Tomer (Mr. John), his thunder, 252— his adventures, 253, 
Transportation of Dissenters, 277 to 279, 298. 
Trial at Taunton Castle, 223 to 247. 
Triers in Wilts, 19 — in Somerset, 95, 96. 
Trosse (George), his ordination at Taunton, 325. 
Turner (Colonel), 113. 

Tweagle (George), his examination at Alleine's trial, 
238, 239 — the justices try to bribe him, 243. 

Uniformity (Acl of), conferences before its adoption, 
171 — its terms, 176, 199 — becomes law, 177 — 
argument with its advocates, 181 to 189 — argument 
with the sufferers from it, 189 to 192. 

Uniformity (compulsory), 389, 390. 

Vane (Sir Harry) on the province of the magistrate with 

reference to religion, 388. 
Vincent (Thomas), 310. 
Wales, a Puritan mission-field, 308. 
Wales (Mr. Elkanah), his sufferings, 1790 
Walker (Dr.), 39, 183. 
Waller (Sir William), 25, 27. 
Warre (Lady), her death predicted, 245, 
Webbe (Thomas), extracts from his diary, 28, 349. 
Wellington, Alleine preaches there, 321. 
Wesley (John), labours with Alleine, 209. 
Wesley (John), founder of Methodism — his opinion of 

Alleine's letters, 282. 
Willes (Mr. Tobias), Baptist minister, imprisoned with 

Alleine, 250. 
Winslow (Governor), 71. 
Withers (George), 14, 310. 

Tarrington (Captain), his account of pretended plots, 176. 
Young (Arthur), his account of Oxford, 46. 
Zanchy (Proftor), 43. 



ERRATA. 

P. 32, #0f£,yor f Gangroena, read Gangraena. 

P. 60, line 1 7, insert Musarum before Oxoniensium. 



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